Cowardly Keir Starmer is a sitting duck but just look at what comes next – it’s even worse
Civil war has engulfed Labour and a line of familiar faces are poised to plunge the knife into the PM’s back, writes Giles Sheldrick.
Hands up if you’re plotting a comeback: Rayner is seeking revenge (Image: Getty Images)
Sir Keir Starmer will pay the price for approaching two years of political dithering when he is stabbed in the back. And soon. Incompetence turned to cowardice yesterday as the pitiful prime minister refused to allow Andy Burnham to stand for parliament.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester wanted to contest the Gorton and Denton seat vacated by disgraced former minister Andrew Gwynne but Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee – stuffed full of Starmer stormtroopers – said no.
The reason? It would be too costly to stage a mayoral election. And this from a party under which taxpayer-funded welfare handouts will balloon to £406.2bn over the next five years.
No, Mr Burnham has been stopped from standing because he would have swiftly toppled the PM. Not that there are any shortage of candidates these days.
Labour – run by its banana republic supreme governing body NEC – thinks it headed off the problem at the pass but it has merely kicked the can down the road.
The vultures have been circling for some time and now they are becoming more vocal.
It means our lame duck prime minister is now a sitting duck. And by the time of the inevitable local election wipeout in May his goose will be cooked. Et tu, Burnham?
But what for the country he has inflicted so much socialist misery on?
Taxed to the hilt, while living costs continue to rise, things hardly look brighter on the horizon. Just look what is around the corner.
The civil war inside this dysfunctional government has been an open secret for some time.
Mr Burnham, a Sir Tony Blair protege, effectively announced a leadership challenge by declaring he wanted to return as an MP.
And last night, after being silenced, he laid into the way the party is run making it open season on Starmer who leads this abject failure of a government from crisis to catastrophe via any number of U-turns.
Blairite Burnham was expected to return to Westminster and then unleash a leadership challenge (Image: PA)
But the net is closing in.
Net zero zealot Ed Miliband said Mr Burnham would be a “massive asset in parliament”.
Deputy leader Lucy Powell and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan also publicly backed his return to Westminster.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said anonymous briefings against Mr Burnham were a “disgrace”.
Labour backbencher Neil Duncan-Jordan said the Starmer stitch-up “puts control before country”.
And gnarled old Lefty John McDonnell couldn’t hide his anger at scared Sir Keir, telling him: “Do not underestimate the depth of anger people will feel about this disgusting decision. If you think it strengthens you, I tell you it will simply strengthen your demise. You could have shown magnanimous leadership – but instead it’s cowardice.”
One person conspicuous by their absence has been Angela Rayner, the darling of the hard-left, who must be licking her lips at the prospect of revenge.
Her conveyancing cock up, in which she forgot to pay the correct amount of stamp duty on a luxury seaside flat, left her humiliated and since her resignation in September she has been forced to bite her tongue and bide her time. But she is itching to knife the PM.
Stuttering Sir Keir said: “I was really sad that we lost her. As I said to her at the time, she’s going to be a major voice in the Labour movement.”
Asked if she would return to the Cabinet, he said: “Yes. She’s hugely talented.”
Both she and Mr Burnham will now be busy plotting coups.
The game is up for Sir Keir.
