The topic Labour leadership latest: Streeting lauds Burnham as party’s ‘best… is drawing steady attention: readers, analysts, and industry watchers are all tracking how the story may unfold in the days ahead.
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Andy Burnham has been hailed as Labour’s ‘best chance’ to beat Reform in the Makerfield by-election by his potential leadership rival Wes Streeting.
The former health secretary said the self-styled ‘King of the North’ is one of the party’s ‘best players on the pitch’ as he endorsed his candidacy to contest the seat and return to Westminster.
In a post on X, Mr Streeting said: ‘The Makerfield by-election will be tough. Votes will need to be earned. Andy is the best chance of winning and that should override factional advantage or propping up one person.’
Labour’s National Executive Committee is expected to meet early next week to discuss candidates for the by-election triggered by the resignation of former minister Josh Simons.
But Mr Burnham is not expected to receive any resistance which denied him from standing in the Gorton and Denton contest earlier this year.
‘I don’t want to pre-judge [the NEC’s] decision, but everything I’m hearing suggests they’re going to give him a waiver to allow him to stand even though he’s a metro mayor,’ NEC member Luke Akehurst said.
Donald Trump has said it would be ‘tough’ for Sir Keir Starmer to survive politically unless he deals with immigration and energy policy.
Speaking on board Air Force One as he returns from a state visit to China, the President said: ‘He’s in a lot of trouble’.
Trump said Sir Keir needed to ‘straighten out immigration’ and open up the North Sea for oil, adding he’s ‘very bad’ on energy.
Asked if he should quit, Trump told reporters: I don’t say that. I think he’s a nice man, actually. I didn’t like when he said we’re going to send ships [to Iran] as soon as you’re finished with the war.
Andy Burnham has been offered a path back to Parliament after a Labour MP stood down, triggering a by-election which he hopes to contest.
Former minister Josh Simons said he planned on resigning to allow the Mayor of Greater Manchester a path to a sensational return to Parliament.
But Nigel Farage has vowed to ‘throw absolutely everything’ at the Makerfield by-election to halt Mr Burnham’s dream of a return to Westminster.
The by-election, should Mr Burnham be allowed to stand as Labour’s candidate, is shaping up to be a big test of the ‘King of the North’ and his local popularity.
Sir Keir Starmer has visited a police station to discuss operational planning ahead of two protests in London on Saturday.
The Prime Minister was pictured listening to Met Police Commander Clair Haynes during his visit.
More than 4,000 police officers have been drafted in to ensure safety at a pro-Palestine demonstration and Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally.
In addition, the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester City will be played at Wembley.
The Prime Minister is not taking questions from the media during his visit.
If Angela Rayner is to be believed, she waited a surprisingly long time to tell the world about her strikingly convenient letter from HMRC confirming she had been ‘cleared’ of impropriety over her failure to pay tens of thousands of pounds in stamp duty on her luxury flat in Hove, East Sussex.
The letter, she has suggested, arrived on Tuesday – helpfully clearing the dark clouds of the tax investigation that had been hanging over her since September last year.
Tuesday, of course, was the day rebellious ministers were resigning and dozens of MPs were calling on Sir Keir Starmer to go.
You might imagine that Ms Rayner, 46, would have immediately wanted to release this revelation to the media, given her well-publicised ambition to become prime minister herself.
A ministerial aide to former health secretary has today resigned from her role.
Rosie Wrighting, who served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Health, has followed her former boss out of the Government and backed his decision to quit yesterday.
Ms Wrighting wrote on X: ‘He never shies away from the right principled decision, even in difficult times’.
Turning to her own resignation, Ms Wrigthing said Labour ‘must show that we can be better than this, that politics can change things for the good and offer people hope’.
Allies of Wes Streeting insist the former health secretary will stand in a future Labour leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer.
In his resignation letter, Mr Streeting said he had lost the confidence of the Prime Minister with his move to quit plunging Sir Keir’s premiership into chaos.
One of his supporters told HuffPost UK: ‘He has the numbers and will be a candidate when there’s a contest’.
Following his resignation, Mr Streeting called for a broad leadership contest in a move widely seen as welcoming Andy Burnham to take part.
Allies of Sir Keir suggested Mr Streeting did not have the numbers needed to trigger a formal leadership challenge.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting has insisted Andy Burnham gives Labour the ‘best chance’ of beating Reform in the Makerfield by-election.
Mr Streeting, who quit the Government yesterday over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, says Mr Burnham is one the ‘best players on the pitch’.
Reform today vowed to throw everything they have at stopping Andy Burnham from becoming an MP.
Deputy leader Richard Tice said the party wanted to ‘make Burnham history’ in the Makerfield by-election triggered to allow the Greater Manchester mayor to abandon the north and try to become prime minister.
Predictions for the 2029 election, based on current polling, make it a safe Reform win.
Speaking to GB News today Mr Tice said ‘the north had already spoken’ about its feelings for Labour, adding:
Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell has said she has it on ‘good authority’ there will be ‘absolutely no attempt’ to stop Andy Burnham from the upcoming Makerfield by-election
‘We will have him as the candidate I am sure,’ she told a Fire Brigades Union conference in Coventry.
Ms Powell tells the conference she will take the political lead in Makerfield for election and has called on the unions for support after they predicted Sir Keir Starmer will not lead Labour at the next election.
On last week’s local election results, Ms Powell says there is ‘no sugercoating’ the outcome which she says ‘has been coming for a few years’.
‘We might have lost more seats to Reform, but we’ve actually lost a lot more voters to parties to our left,’ she adds.
Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has said Andy Burnham must be ‘careful of looking entitled’ as he joins the race to replace Sir Keir Starmer
In her first remarks since she resigned on Tuesday, Ms Phillips also suggested the Manchester mayor may be ‘playing a sort of Game of Thrones’ which could put off voters.
Labour would be ‘consumed’ by chaos if a leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer were triggered, one of his key Cabinet allies has warned.
Speaking earlier this morning, Housing Secretary Steve Reed warned his colleagues against triggering a leadership contest against Sir Keir, and claimed the party would follow the Conservatives in suffering further woes at the ballot box if one took place.
Labour did ‘badly’ in last week’s local polls in England, and in devolved elections in Wales and Scotland, Mr Reed conceded, but added:
Nigel Farage has vowed to ‘throw absolutely everything’ at the Makerfield by-election, in what will be the most dramatic and consequential race in over half a century.
On Thursday afternoon, former minister Josh Simons said he planned on resigning and sparking a by-election to allow Andy Burnham to make a sensational return to Parliament.
But the Manchester Mayor’s route back to the frontline of politics could be upended by Reform UK, who believe they have a very real chance of snatching the seat.
The insurgent Right-wing party immediately published numbers suggesting they stormed to victory in the constituency at last week’s local election.
Of the eight wards within Mr Simons’s seat that went to the polls, Reform UK won every single one and trounced the Labour Party. Mr Farage secured 50.4 per cent of the vote, compared to Labour’s dismal 22.7 per cent.