Harriet Harman has told the Today programme she thinks Starmer, Burnham and Streeting should agree on a ‘process’ for a leadership contest, and Labour MPs should have the final say. Just six weeks ago, Starmer appointed Harman as his new ‘Adviser on Women and Girls’ in the wake of Labour’s local election bloodbath. Now she’s explaining to Justin Webb how he should probably go…
‘[They] should be got in a room by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Lucy Powell, and the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Jess Morden, to agree a process whereby the Labour MPs choose who they want… you can’t govern without the support of Labour MPs… But that’s my view. I think the process should be Labour MPs choosing. And I think that’s the best thing for stability of government.”
She did at least add that a woman should be on the ballot as well. So Starmer can be reassured she’s still taking her new role seriously, sort of…
Burnham confirms he spoke to Trump last night about drilling in the North Sea:
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here. There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president…”