Team Burnham have been hit with rejection along their search for a seat for the King of the North. It’s never as easy as they make out…
Guido hears that Burnham’s operation approached former minister Josh Simons to ask for him to give up his Makerfield seat. They got hit with a flat no…
Burnham organisers – who count Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell among them – are said to be bitter about the rejection. Makerfield in Greater Manchester is one of the safest Labour seats in the country and ticks all of Burnham’s wish list boxes. Simons has a current majority of 5,399…
Simons penned a Times column over the weekend calling for Starmer to go and for radical change. It contained some ambitious ideas of its own: “People are right to want the system torn apart.“ It looks like Simons believes he has more to contribute from within the Commons…
Burnham was in London yesterday to meet MPs after arriving in Euston station. Blue Labour supremo Dan Carden has also denied that he will give up his Liverpool Walton seat. So have other contenders Marie Rimmer, Charlotte Nichols, and Peter Dowd. Gossip points the finger at Navendu Mishra in Stockport. Westminster rumours continue to circulate over a potential job swap between ex-minister Jim McMahon and Burnham…
Burnham’s team have been tight-lipped so far on their hypothetical seat arrangements, though they have boasted that they can trigger the process for the Manchester Mayor to enter parliament as soon as today. The proof is in the pudding…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”