Work & Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told broadcasters this morning:
“Any unnecessary by-election is always a risk. Uh, it’s the voters who have their say, but like any by-election that is called for whatever reason, I want Labour to win. Uh, I want to see a Labour MP for that seat, and that’s what we’ll all be working for between now and polling day and the by-election…
The sitting MP chose to resign. That’s always a risk to do. But now that it’s been called, we will fight to win the by-election for Labour.”
Burnham and his fans have spent the last few days saying the Makerfield by-election ‘isn’t about him’ and so on and so forth. Hilariously one Labour MP said Burnham “represents our best chance of keeping the seat.” Pure guff slapped down by McFadden…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”