Andy Burnham is the only declared name in Labour’s race to replace Keir Starmer, and the race has not formally started. Starmer announced his departure plan on Monday. On Tuesday the two men met, and neither side said what came of it.
The mechanics here are unusual. Labour officials will not open nominations until July 9, and they close a week later. Starmer has said he wants a new leader confirmed by the time Parliament returns on September 1. Until then, The Age reported, major decisions at the top of government are frozen.
How Burnham got to Westminster
The route ran through Makerfield. Josh Simons, the Labour MP for Ashton-in-Makerfield, resigned his seat, and Burnham, then mayor of Greater Manchester, asked the party’s National Executive Committee for permission to stand in the by-election. As mayor he was known for the Bee Network, which brought buses back under public control, and for a £2 bus fare cap. He said he wanted to “bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK.”
He won the seat last Thursday and stopped being mayor on the spot. He had not served in a national cabinet since 2010.
Little said, much assumed
The catch is how little Burnham has said. He has not formally nominated and has not set out an agenda for national government. His only public words since Monday were a few remarks to reporters and the oath of allegiance to the King at his swearing-in. British media still treat him as the next leader.
Darren Jones, a Labour MP and key Starmer ally, told Sky News he would not enter a race. “Andy Burnham is going to be the next prime minister,” he said. He asked what a contest would give the country and the party.
A rival would need the backing of at least 81 Labour MPs, a fifth of the parliamentary party, to force a formal contest. Former armed forces minister Al Carns, who quit on June 11 alongside Defence Secretary John Healey, did not rule out running. “I’m not ready to make a decision on this in any way, shape or form,” he said.
Defence and the opposition
Defence money is the first obstacle. Starmer wants to unveil a spending plan before a NATO summit in Ankara on July 7 and 8, but his cabinet split over it, and Healey resigned on June 11. If Starmer settles the figures within weeks, they would bind Burnham and limit him just as his supporters on the left may want more social spending. Burnham appears to be at odds with Starmer over major policies.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Burnham to say what he would do. “Will he cut welfare?” she asked on the BBC.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage demanded an election but has only a handful of MPs to press the point. A YouGov survey this month put Reform at 24 per cent. Reform’s strength produced sweeping losses for Labour and the Conservatives at council elections in May, and many Labour MPs concluded Burnham would fare better against it.
The European Union has postponed a UK-EU summit planned for July, which Starmer was due to attend.
Sources
- Power Shift in Westminster: Andy Burnham’s Parliamentary Bid and the Makerfield Resignation
- UK in limbo as Burnham challenge brings chaos to Starmer cabinet
