Andy Burham suggested Labour could lose a crunch upcoming by-election after he was blocked from standing. The Greater Manchester Mayor was denied permission to stand in Gorton and Denton by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) which includes Sir Keir Starmer.
The NEC cited the cost of fighting a mayoral by-election and the risk of losing the Greater Manchester mayoralty. In a post on X, the Prime Minister’s biographer Tom Baldwin said: “I’ve always liked Andy Burnham but the prospect of him returning to Westminster has already added to inward-looking psychodrama that does no one any good. And an unnecessary by-election for Mayor of Manchester might well have resulted in long-term damage to his reputation too.”
But Mr Burnham replied: “I’m not sure losing a by-election does us any good either, Tom.”
Critics have accused Sir Keir and his supporters of blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy as he fears a leadership challenge if he returned to Westminster.
Mr Burnham said he was “disappointed” by the decision and “concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us”.
In a statement on social media, he added: “To whoever is Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support and I will be there whenever you need me.
“Tomorrow I return with full focus to my role as Mayor of GM, defending everything we have built in our city-region over many years.
“I decided to put myself forward to prevent the divisive politics of Reform from damaging that. We are stronger together and let’s stay that way
“The fact that the media was informed of the NEC decision before I was tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days.
“You would think that over 30 years of service would count for something but sadly not.”
