Keir Starmer is scared to death of Andy Burnham
Blocking Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election shows Starmer is a weak leader whose time in Downing Street will soon be over, says Sacha Lord
We are witnessing the beginning of the end of Starmer’s short stint as PM. How is it possible, that someone with such a stomping majority, has become the most unpopular PM in my lifetime – and that includes Liz Truss who was outlived by a lettuce?
It all started out so differently. Starmer romped home to victory in the general election (although it was clearly a protest vote against the Tories). But the sleaze started almost immediately. Donations for glasses, outfits and questions over breaking lockdown rules to film a video in a donor’s flat. Well I say flat, it’s a multi million pound penthouse in Covent Garden. I know that because I’ve been in it, when the party was courting me for donations.
Sleaze aside, we then had the first big policy announcement; to freeze pensioners in the winter. Who on earth thought that was a good idea? But then it started; Captain Flip Flop has presided over 14 U-turns at my last count. A certain sign of a weak Leader; but exactly how weak is he? We were given the answer last weekend.
With the pending by-election in Gorton and Denton, Andy Burnham spent time weighing up the pros and cons of running. He spoke with ministers and MP’s, with every poll showing he was the only person who could beat Reform.
On the Saturday, my wife was treating me to a mid afternoon birthday lunch in town. To her annoyance, I was constantly checking Andy’s socials. Will he, won’t he? Just before 5pm he posted his letter that he’d sent to the National Executive Committee (NEC). My phone lit up, mainly by press; what did I know? The answer was as much as them as, in true Burnham-style, being a family man, he’d locked himself away to get the views and backing of his family.
Putting their best player forward
The following morning seemed positive, with the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood doing the TV rounds and along with other Labour MP’s, saying they would put their best player forward. This felt like a done deal, as the polls were showing it could only be Andy Burnham – the potential candidate with the strongest CV and someone who has transformed the local area.
Greater Manchester is now economically out-performing every other city region in the UK. The Sunday Times has named us The UK’s Capital of Nightlife. As we say in our city, the place is buzzin’. As I write this, leaders have announced more Mayoral Developments in Bolton, Ashton, Stalybridge and Oldham. These Mayoral Developments transform Boroughs. This is what transformed Stockport to such an extent that we now describe it as the Manhattan of Manchester. Businesses are relocating here and spending hundreds of millions of pounds, investing in the City Region and creating thousands of jobs.
Things are so good in Greater Manchester that No 10 have even sent advisers up to try to get under the skin of how Burnham’s achieved all this – with a view to try to replicate it across other City Regions.
With the above in mind, you’d think the NEC meeting was just a formality. Then the news broke. The Prime Minister (or ‘Fear Starmer’ as he should now be known) had blocked him. He’d put himself before both Party and country. An unforgivable act and his weakest move of his 18-month term. In fact, the only MP who had any guts at the NEC, was Manchester’s own Lucy Powell, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. No one could quite believe it. The PM, the Leader of The Labour Party, would rather hand Reform a seat than allow Andy Burnham back into Parliament. A jelly fish has a bigger spine.
Labour never supported Burnham in his elections. I know this as I was involved in the last two
Then began the endless lies being briefed to the media by No 10. Firstly “Labour cannot afford a Mayoral Election”. Utter nonsense; Labour never supported Burnham in his elections. I know this as I was involved in the last two. We had to scrape pennies together, coming into the tens of thousands, not £5m being spouted by Starmer. The biggest kick in the teeth was how Burnham found out the NEC’s decision. He read it in the Guardian. After 30 years of dedicated service to the Party, they told The Guardian first. They even tried to say Andy had been told in advance that he would be blocked – another out and out lie, leaving to No.10 having to crawl of their knees and put out a statement retracting that.
Every person I’ve spoken to since has agreed, Starmer’s scared to death of Andy Burham. In fact he seems to be scared of anything from the North, which is why a closed shop of an all boys, London-centric club, tried everything they could to keep him returning to Parliament.
Not only was this a badly thought out decision, they’ve completely called this wrong. The Burnham stock has gone up in value, leaving him more popular than ever before, especially by contrast to Starmer’s shortcomings.
The countdown has now started to Starmer’s demise. With a by-election in three weeks and local elections on the 7th May, I’m predicting he’s in for an absolute kicking, with many, good hard working Labour councillors about to lose their jobs, due to his poor decisions and weak leadership. Then there will be a leadership contest and I reckon a new PM by July.
If the Party is to stand any chance at the next general election, and it’s a slim chance at best, they need to get back to the real Labour Party values that have been shredded by Starmer and Co.
That night, after Burnham was blocked, I took great delight in watching Manchester United beat Arsenal, at Arsenal. Starmer was in the stadium and Manchester had the last laugh.
If there’s one thing I do know after working with him for seven years, it’s never write off The King of the North. He has that title for good reason.
Sacha Lord is founder of The Warehouse Project/Parklife, former night time economy adviser to the Mayor of Manchester, chair of NTIA and author of Tales From the Dancefloor