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Starmer has 'absolutely no authority,' says Labour peer
Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Keir Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Andy Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.
Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.
Key events
Peter Walker
Reform UK is examining whether sexist comments by its candidate in the Makerfield byelection may have harmed the party’s chances, after Nigel Farage accepted the result had disappointed him.
The party’s examination of its defeat comes after Andy Burnham won 55% of the vote share in a poll that Reform hoped would be a tightly fought battle between the Labour leadership hopeful and its own candidate, Robert Kenyon, a local plumber.
Canvassers from different parties reported that voters highlighted sexist and lewd social media posts by Kenyon, which emerged during the campaign, with women in particular saying they were put off by them.
After Kenyon came more than 9,000 votes behind Burnham in Thursday’s vote, one Reform activist said the party had advised the candidate not to apologise for the comments. “That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised,” they said.
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When asked whether Starmer should compete in a leadership competition, Falconer said: “My advice, sadly, would be: don’t stand.
“The reason it would be ‘don’t stand’ is because if you stand, it is likely there would then be a difficult leadership battle in which the two leadership candidates would try to undermine each other.
“That would be bad for the country.”
Starmer has 'absolutely no authority,' says Labour peer
Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Keir Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Andy Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.
Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.
Beccy Cooper, Labour MP for Worthing West backing Andy Burnham, said he is “not the messiah” and insisted that “this doesn’t rest just on one person”.
Speaking to Times Radio, she argued that a Burnham-led government would “still be a Labour government” and would stick to the party’s manifesto because “that’s what people voted for”.
She said a leadership contest involving Keir Starmer “is not actually going to benefit our country or the party in the long term”, while adding that she does not “necessarily want a coronation” for Burnham and would like a new leader in place before the Labour conference in September.
Burnham has shown he can beat Reform and deserves chance to make his case for leadership, says Phillips
Jess Phillips, who quit as safeguarding minister last month, said Andy Burnham has “proved his hypothesis” that he could beat Reform in a constituency where many expected Reform to do very well.
“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour party.”
Birmingham Yardley MP, who previously backed Wes Streeting for the leadership position, said she was looking forward to Burnham arriving in Westminster on Monday and seeing prospective candidates of a leadership contest “setting out their stall”.
But she added: “It would be much better if this wasn’t protracted and didn’t go on for a long time.”
Morwenna Ferrier
‘Within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it’: illustrator on his ubiquitous image of Andy Burnham
It was shortly after Andy Burnham’s famously rousing speech outside the Manchester Central Library in October 2020 that Stanley Chow decided to draw him. Or rather his wife did.
“It was the pandemic and we were all so down in the dumps at that point,” says the illustrator, speaking from his home in the city this week. But I remember looking around and he had just moved everyone.
“He was already a good mayor, but at that point we all thought: ‘Oh shit, he’s really good.’ And then my wife goes: you should draw Andy.”
So he did, using his preferred medium, Adobe Illustrator. “I put it on Twitter and within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it.”
Burnham initially used the image for his Twitter handle, but it has since appeared on billboards, beer mats, mugs, aprons and record inlays, becoming a visual proxy for both his mayoral campaigns and more recent campaigning in Makerfield.
With his spot-on light scowl and navy/black attire, the image has become shorthand for Burnham’s anti-establishment sentiment. “There is no tie, no,” says Chow, 51.
After its initial use, Burnham said he was “grateful to Stan for making me look cooler than I am”.
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What will ‘change’ look like if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister?
Kiran Stacey
Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield sets up a battle for Downing Street. Allies of the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor want him to be installed as prime minister as quickly and painlessly as possible, while those close to Keir Starmer want the Labour leader to fight on.
If he does become prime minister, Burnham will be expected to deliver on the “change” he promised after his win on Thursday night. But what would that look like, and what policies would his government be likely to pursue?
The Guardian’s policy editor, Kiran Stacey, explains:
Starmer under pressure to agree to a timetable to relinquish power
Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure from cabinet ministers and MPs to avoid a bruising leadership battle and instead set a timetable to hand power to Andy Burnham, who won a resounding majority in the Makerfield byelection.
The prime minister pledged to fight to keep his job, but ministers loyal to Starmer have urged him to set out plans to step down over the weekend.
Weakened by collapsing poll numbers and a string of local election losses, one cabinet minister – who has not previously told the prime minister to go – said Starmer’s departure was now inevitable.
A leadership challenge requires the formal backing of at least 81 Labour MPs, but, as my colleagues Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason write in their report, one MP said they believed there were about 200 Labour MPs prepared, if necessary, to sign Burnham’s nomination papers.
Jessica and Rowena wrote:
Starmer called members of the cabinet on Friday afternoon to set out his determination to fight on. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, is said by sources to be among those who expressed concerns in a call on Friday.
At least two ministers, Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood, have previously suggested to Starmer that he should set out a timetable for his departure.
Other ministers are expected to press Starmer on whether fighting a leadership contest would be wise. Another cabinet source said: “Everyone thinks it is over and everyone wants it to be a dignified, orderly exit.”
Supporters of Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, who has said it is also his intention to challenge Starmer, are being urged by Burnham allies not to launch a competing bid and for the party to unite behind a single successor.
Read the full report here:
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