A trickle of briefings have emerged following Keir Starmer’s potemkin peace summit with Andy Burnham this week. According to The I, the pair met privately in Burnham’s mayoral office, with no advisers present and no photos of the encounter. Nonetheless, ‘Labour sources’ say it was “a nice, friendly chat” and they’ve “known each other for years“. They even sat on the ‘comfy chairs’.
Burnham has not abandoned his parliamentary ambitions, nor has he forgotten Starmer’s rearguard action last month when the Gorton and Denton vacancy magically appeared. As Guido reported, the next opportunity to strike is in the summer, when NEC elections present an opportunity for the soft left to grab the wheel. Starmer’s attempt to buy off Burnham with another northern seat in 2027 was turned down. The relationship between the pair is still in the gutter. Burnham has calculated that playing nice ahead of tomorrow’s by-election only serves to his benefit, whatever the result…
Starmer loyalist and Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Sky News that Starmer should not be replaced:
“We saw what the Tories did. They were in power for 14 years, and after 2016, I think we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors, and five Prime Ministers. Doomscrolling through Prime Ministers doesn’t resolve the problem.”