Co-conspirators and SW1 denizens will remember the many faces of Andy Burnham. The extent of his dalliance with the Labour right has been smudged since 2015…
Waheed Alli, bankroller of the Labour right and eventually the Starmer project, donated £26,500 to leadership hopefuls Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall in 2015 as Corbyn took over the party. Burnham got £10,000 according to Electoral Commission records…
Alli had funded David Miliband in 2010 and moved to fund arch-Blairites Burnham and Kendall once that ship sailed. Starmer got the cash after 2015…
YouGov polling of 706 Labour members has Burnham at a significant lead so far with Starmer in second. A head to head between Starmer and Burnham sees the latter on 59% compared to the PM’s 37%. Not as dire as it could be – the figure may give hope to anti Burnhamites…
Last night Team Burnham reversed position and said he would not change the fiscal rules at all. Labour figures have frequently complained that the comms aren’t the real problem but the policy and direction of government under Starmer. So far the PLP is enthusiastically signing up to a comms refresh with more of the same policy…
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.”