Thread 41 Starmer : "Alban Arthan" the returning of the light

[DuncinToffee]

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Welcome to 2026 for political discussion, general chat and taxes in kind.

The petition for calling an automatic by-election for defections quickly reached over 100,000 signatures

Doubt anything will come to pass beyond discussing it in parliament.

I’m very interested to know what Farage is advising the billionaire financier Ghandehari about.
💩 currency? Loosening bank regulations? What exactly?

On the basis nobody does anything for free what do they get for Farage?

So - let me check - one SIXTIETH of a petition lost to history ?

Praise the lord and pass the ammunition

Those petitions are sadly pointless. As you say @DuncinToffee the best that can be hoped for is a token debate in Westminster Hall.

I really hope Burnham doesn't run it's a hiding to nothing.

Not to emulate Your Party for anything else but they do have some inkling that maybe parliament is not the be all and end all of political power. Labour tend to be more effective at running cities and local government level bodies

I do think King Charles visit should be cancelled but not by making up excuses. It's just not appropriate for him to go in current circumstances. Trump has gone too far this time.

Anyway 😉 update on the holiday to Italy. Accommodation and transfers booked. Itinerary for Sicily confirmed. Just to sort out the itinerary for Rome. Ostia is on the cards as well as churches. Would love to do the Roman Holiday film tour.

Burnham has until 5pm today to decide if he wishes to stand for the by election. Powell, who sits on the NEC, has intimated support.

Burnham's not got long to decide. 5pm deadline today to seek permission from the NEC.

DON'T DO IT ANDY

Sadiq Khan has been running London reasonably adequately. Would he make it as Labour Leader? I think the answer is fairly obviously no.

It's a safe seat for Labour, but you never can tell what the outcome might be in these manufactured so called "turbulent times. No doubt gbeebies and Slime Radio will be frothing. @PandoraSocks

I think he’s far more useful where he is too. If there’s a challenge to the leadership it’s far better coming from a sitting MP. I’d love to see the party belatedly choose its first woman leader and I’d very much like it to be Rayner.

The likes of gbeebies are desperate for him to run.

That’s precisely why he shouldn’t.

Putting my hands up to freely admit my lack of knowledge of Labour internal rivalries/factions.

But is there an argument to be made that it is more useful to Starmer etc to have Burnham fully inside the tent? Fronting particular projects etc? Or is he too primed to lead rebellions?

I understand why Streeting & the next generation of hopeful Labour leaders wont be keen. But I wondered if he could be made to work for it and get his hands dirty?

Part of his current attraction seems to be his distance from Westminster and that could be remedied very quickly (for good or ill).

Absolutely. Let's see what happens. My feeling is that he won't as there is a risk he wouldn't win the seat. Plus abandoning Manchester and landing it with the massive cost of running a mayoral election is not a good look.

@Notonthestairs if he does run it would definitely be with a future leadership challenge in mind, I think. Why bother, otherwise?

Agree plus the further risk that the mayoralty could go to Reform too

No such thing as a safe seat any more

If he runs now it will be seen as ambition, particularly in the turbulent times we are in at the moment.

He needs to keep his powder dry and wait.

Six million is well over 10% of the electorate.

What will happen is that despite consistently saying he wan't interested and without a shred of supporting evidence the MSM will scream about him somehow running away.

Much like the mysterious "tax rises" that only ever existed in the fever dreams of MSM writers somehow became abandoned in a narrative that Reeves had somehow lied.

I would love it to be Rayner too.

Exactly. What did that petition get? A debate in Westminster Hall.

Well, not long to wait.

I sincerely hope Burnham decides not to run - it’s the last thing we need, at the moment.

yes, either the media will get overexcited about a leadership rival. Or they will call Burnham frit and suggest Starmer strongarmed him.

Plenty of lazy copy.
And absolutely no need to focus on policy assessments or anything technical (or actually relevant to how the country functions)

Try and Google it ...