Lisa Nandy in the latest edition of the House Magazine:
“[Andy Burnham] a friend of mine. He’s my mayor, and he was my neighbouring MP for seven years. I think he’s a huge asset to the party. And I’ve said before, I’ll say again, I’ll support him in whatever he wants to do.”
“I think it is right that members are allowed to make their own choices about who they want to be their candidates in elections – I’ve always thought that right. And while I respect the views of colleagues on the National Executive Committee, I… had I been sitting in that seat… I would have voted to allow him to stand, as Lucy [Powell] did.”
Burnham’s allies don’t even bother hiding their allegiances in public anymore. As Guido has previously reported, it might not be a long wait for the King of the North’s next attempt to return to Westminster…
Now Andy Burnham is getting involved, to the surprise of no one. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, Burnham said not only that Rayner’s attack on Starmer “should be listened to“, but her claim that Shabana Mahmood’s immigration policies were “un-British” mirrored his own “moral questions“:
“From my point of view I would have a concern about the mandatory checks on people’s country of origin… my feeling would be that could place an administrative burden on a system that already struggles to cope, and in fact doesn’t cope. It is often in chaos… alongside the problem that it leaves some people in limbo, so [that’s] the moral question that I think Angela was pointing to…”
The morning after Rayner appears at an anti-Starmer faction’s party, the King of the North crops up with his own hot take on where the government is going wrong. Who’d have guessed…
The key quotes from Rayner’s speech last night at Mainstream’s spring reception in Westminster:
“As a party and a movement, we cannot hide. We cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline. There’s no safe ground for us, and we’re running out of time. The change that people wanted so desperately to see needs to be seen. It needs to be felt, and we have to show that it’s a Labour government that will deliver it…”
“… we have to come together in the face of division of hate and make sure that the Labour Party represents the ordinary working people of this country. And I’m in there with you, so I can’t wait to get involved with you.”
Starmer wasn’t the only one in the firing line. She also took aim at Shabana Mahmood’s changes to indefinite leave to remain:
“If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those that have planned their lives and commitments, and they’re contributing to our economy and to our society. That would not just be bad policy, but a breach of trust… It’s un-British.”
Mainstream’s mission is to prevent Labour’s “clear drift to the right” under Starmer. It is also backed by Andy Burnham. As everyone fully expected, Rayner has parked tanks on Starmer’s lawn. Now, about those taxes…
New polling from Survation in the New Statesman today, in a hypothetical world in which Starmer didn’t stop ‘his friend’ Andy Burnham standing in Gorton and Denton:
Certain to vote: Green 25%, Labour 47%, Don’t Know 7%, Reform 21%
Among all voters: Green 17%, Labour 33%, Don’t Know 30%, Reform 15%
If Burnham had stood, he likely would have taken the seat. There’s always next time. Although the mayoral election to fill his vacancy would be a nail-biter…
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…
Polls open in Gorton and Denton on Thursday. Both Reform and the Greens say it is a two-horse race, with Labour squeezed into third place despite winning more than 50% of the vote in 2024. Labour’s ground game is now focused on undecided voters, who Labour sources insist will tilt the result on the day. Greater Manchester Mayor (and spurned candidate) Andy Burnham is being used to court those sitting on the fence. Below is the leaflet circulating throughout the constituency…
Burnham is holding small surgeries alongside the candidate Angeliki Stogia to persuade wavering voters. He may not actually be on the ballot, but campaigners are still acting as if he is. Starmer’s name and face are nowhere to be seen. When Guido asked if the PM was still a big part of the campaign, local sources said he was “welcome to join us” if he wanted… and Manchester Labour is “strong”.
The campaign knows it is haemorrhaging support amongst Muslim voters to the Greens. Sources say they are “not taking that community for granted“. Co-conspirators only need to read the party’s leaflets for evidence of that. As for the sea of Green Party signs sweeping through parts of the constituency, Labour insists Green canvassers are encouraging residents to stick Green posters in their windows as an omen to Reform door-knockers. ‘They’ll leave you alone if you put this up’…
UPDATE: Starmer has finally arrived in the constituency this afternoon…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
