Starmer has accelerated leadership challenge by blocking Burnham, MPs warn
L.Sir Keir Starmer is pushing up the timeline for the leadership fight by blocking Andy Burnham from standing in the crucial Gorton and Denton byelection, MPs have warned.
The critical poll, held on February 26, is seen by some MPs as a referendum on the prime minister’s leadership and puts huge pressure on the government, which is expected to lose the by-election.
It comes after Labor announced a relatively unknown candidate, Manchester councilor Angeliki Stogia, to contest the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Prospects of challenging the prime minister ahead of local elections on May 7 rose after a group of 10 members of Labour’s ruling NEC, including Sir Keir, voted to deny Mr Burnham permission to stand in the Greater Manchester by-election.
Critics have accused Sir Keir and his allies of blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy for factional reasons, fearing a leadership challenge from the mayor as both Labour’s poll ratings and personal approval ratings falter.
There is now widespread speculation that supporters of health secretary Wes Streeting will launch a bid to replace Sir Keir; Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is also thought to be preparing for a competition this week by saying “I’m not dead yet.”
A senior Labor MP said: “Colleagues were looking at something after the local elections on May 7, but when there was a by-election they postponed it and set the timetable. [for a challenge] has been highlighted. Why should we wait?
It came as Liverpool’s Labor mayor launched an extraordinary attack on Downing Street, attacking “gutless people” within the government responsible for a briefing war against Mr Burnham after he was prevented from standing.
Steve Rotheram threw his support behind the mayor, Mr Burnham, in a post on social media highlighting that such briefings “help no one but our opponents”.
Following the decision to block Mr Burnham, briefings were given that he had been told in advance that his candidacy would be blocked if he applied.
Both Sir Keir and Mr Burnham denied this was the case and spoke to each other last Monday to clear the air.
Mr Rotheram, the Liverpool district mayor, said in a post on
“These gutless people hide behind a veil of anonymity, just like the keyboard warriors they oppose.”
Labor has already launched a campaign to tactically stop left-wing voters from backing the Greens to avoid the so-called “Caerphilly scenario”, which insists voters must choose between Reform and Labour.
The Welsh seat of Caerphilly was continuously held by the Labor Party for over a century; until last year the party came third with voters tactically supporting Plaid Cymru to keep Reform out.
One senior backbencher noted: “If we come third in this seat it will be unacceptable to our colleagues. It will only herald the bloodbath in May.”
But the prospect of a Green victory in Gorton and Denton is now seen as even worse than a victory under Nigel Farage’s Reform.
One MP whose seat was threatened by Reform said: “At least if Reform wins we can say we are against Reform, but if the Greens win it will feed the narrative that voting for the Greens is not a waste of money and there is a serious alternative across the country.”
The MP added: “Like other colleagues, I will need to rely on tactical voting to keep my seat, but if people think they can vote Green and get a Green MP then that is much less likely to happen.”
MPs have claimed MPs have been given strict orders to campaign in the seat because the number of activists willing to knock on doors in Gorton and Denton has dropped significantly since Mr Burnham was rejected as a candidate.
One MP said: “I’ll go once to say I did, but I’m not filled with enthusiasm to help a contest we’re going to lose.”
Some Labor ministers insist the decision to block Mr Burnham, which sparked a fierce debate within the party, will draw a line under the constant leadership speculation that has surrounded the mayor of Greater Manchester for months.
“This happened. We need to move forward now,” a minister said Independent. But rather than ending talk of leadership challenges, last weekend’s decision to sideline Mr Burnham merely turned the spotlight on Sir Keir’s other rivals.
And many MPs believe Mr Streeting was the real beneficiary.
“Now that Andy is out of the picture, a lot of people are looking at Wes instead,” said one Labor MP.
An MP highlighted the extraordinary row before Christmas when Sir Keir’s allies were briefed that Mr Streeting was plotting to bring down the prime minister. The row broke out just hours before the health minister was due to appear on morning television.
In the end, Mr Streeting prevailed after a masterful series of interviews, at one point claiming his accusers had launched “the worst attack I have seen on a believer since”. [rugby star] Joe Marler was kicked out and exiled in the finale of The Traitors.
A Labor MP said: Independent: “What you saw was a politician who was in a difficult situation, came out fighting, made his case and eventually won. And that’s… what the Labor Party is supposed to do. Show up fighting, make the case and win. Ironically, No 10 allowed Wes to show a way forward that would solve our problems.”
Meanwhile, Ms Rayner will speak at a reception hosted by Mainstream, a new Labor group co-founded by Andy Burnham, in Westminster on Tuesday evening (February 24), just 36 hours before polls open in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
MPs told Independent He said he would have the support of the 80 Labor MPs needed to back his leadership bid.
But his path to the leadership has not been easy as he has been accused of “trying to play both sides” in the Burnham dispute after he failed to sign a letter from Labor MPs calling for the decision to block him to be reversed.
One MP said: “If Angela had supported this we would have had the 80 required to trigger a leadership vote, which would have been a pretty obvious statement. But she tried to have it both ways, suggesting she supported Andy’s election, but she did not support the letter.”
MPs on the left also complained that he had not used his time on the backbench “to really create distance between himself and this government”.
