Andy Burnham is standing!

[Sortis]

This is the first time in ages I've felt excited and hopeful about our politics. Will he be blocked by Starmer's allies?

I didn't know that about Andy Burnham. I thought he was a good man, but it appears not.

I live in Manchester and love some of the things he’s done here but 100% on the misogynistic bigot. This isn’t good news for women. Frankly I’m hoping he doesn’t make it.

He is more economically illiterate than Reeves. He thinks he can print money and ignore the bond market. Somehow he believes he can defy thousands of years of economic and interest rate history.

He has been the beneficiary of Howard Bernstein and Richard Leese work in growing Manchester and done little to deserve his reputation for success. He achieved nothing in the cabinet and done very little of note in Manchester.

They must absolutely desperate if they think he is the answer.

The dirt on Burnham is certainly being dished now. Quite the eye opener.

I have met AB a couple of times. I really like him, he is very down to earth and even made me a cuppa - we were at an event and I was behind him in the drinks station. I don't generally vote Labour but I would consider voting for him. He is mostly popular in Manchester and its a Left leaning city but there are no guarantees he will win the By Election and I am not sure he could win a GE either
What does concern me is that Labour (and The UK) does not need a Leadership battle right now so I would hope that if AB does go for Leadership he waits until the time is right and doesn't do it in a way that damages Labour. Its not that I am a Lab supporter but I am very concerned about the likes of Reform

How so? I thought he didnt have to resign as mayor until he was appointed as MP?

Burnham is a privileged middle class career politician who has never done an ordinary days work in his life. What’s to be excited by? A northern accent doesn’t somehow make you more authentic and salt of the earth.

He studied at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and subsequently worked as a researcher for Tessa Jowell, as a parliamentary officer for the NHS Confederation and as an administrator with the Football Task Force. From 1998 to 2001, he was a special advisor to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Chris Smith. At the 2001 general election, Burnham was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Leigh in Greater Manchester.
Burnham served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary from 2003 to 2005. He was promoted by Prime Minister Tony Blair to serve in his government after the 2005 election as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. In 2006, Burnham was reshuffled to become Minister of State for Health.

Zero life experience.

I feel the same.

I would rather AB was Labour leader but he isn’t, the country elected the current prime minister and the party fighting with itself is handing votes to Farage, which in itself is normalising an even harder right than Reform. I’m frightened.

Global stability is more important than a slight difference of opinion on the policy around welfare reform FFS. Starmer is doing ok out there on the world stage.

I look at America (and my bank account - I have no insulation against fascism, I can’t move my family abroad!) and despair for our future.

Meanwhile Angela Rayner had a fuck ton of life experience pre politics and everyone hated her.

There’s no point in playing these games.

What games? Labour have only ever had white middle class men as their leader. It’s not that I think the leadership should be subject to affirmative action but if I ran a business and only employed white men aged 40-60, what would you think?

It’s a massive gamble for him personally and usually I would think good on him taking a chance - but to do it now is so damaging for the party it just makes me think he is another chancer a doesn’t really care about where the UK is heading so long as he gets to be PM

His dad was a telephone engineer and his mum a receptionist. How is that privileged annd middle class?

Oh really. I didn't know this. Will have a Google.
Shame as he's done a good job as Mayor.

I am happy about this, to say the least. He was an exceptional MP who really cared about his constituents and brought about massive improvements. Young people are flocking to live in Manchester because it’s doing well, the only city whose economy is growing, plus he is revitalising the greater Manchester towns and cities with some really bold and novel ideas.
The poster who called him middle-class is clueless. His parents were/are working-class and he has also shown he completely understands the challenges of the working class. Only on mumsnet could a working class lad who made it to Cambridge be given a kicking.
Starmer should never have been made PM. He wasn’t even a member of the Labour Party until he fancied having a crack at PM. He is nothing short of an opportunist. He has zero understanding of ordinary people, zero people skills and his advisors are a joke. It was only because the Labour middle classes couldn’t stand the idea of a northern PM Andy was blocked and Starmer won.
we get the politicians we deserve and thanks to the idiots like the ones who have posted on here we have Starmer.
Go on Andy!

I think the second part of your statement is correct. The Labour Party is full of people who don't care where the UK is heading as long as they can torpedo a Labour leader or collapse a Labour government which isn't 'pure' enough. It makes them a party that is completely ungovernable. Burnham will be thrown under the bus when he doesn't magic money out of thin air and he will have to curb welfare spending.

I read somewhere that Zack Polanski might stand. Obviously that's just speculation but if he did that could be a major problem for Burnham or it could split the left wing vote.

As others have said this is really not the time for internal party politics. Labour need to concentrate on trying to run the country. As @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack so eloquently put it.

I agree that a Labour bloodbath is the last thing we need right now, but the fact remains that Starmer is a hopeless PM who seems incapable of standing up to Reform or articulating his vision in the long or short term. He will lead Labour into defeat and Reform into victory at the next election. Starmer should continue to play a major role in international affairs as he is genuinely good at that.

Burnham is a misogynist, but is he any worse than Starmer on this, the human rights lawyer who is prepared to ignore a judgment from the Supreme Court for as long as he possibly can? Who has consistently refused to state the obvious, even when public opinion is with him? All of them have thrown women under the bus, even ‘GC’ Bridget Phillipson. Women don’t matter to any ambitious Labour MP. As a former member, I despair.

Crikey. I always wanted Burnham as Labour leader but reading some of the comments about his misogyny I'm not so sure. I'll have to read more about him. In any event, I think this is very much the wrong time for him to stand.

I think people are saying he is a misogynist because of his position in the trans debate. I’ve always see him as a champion of women. He has daughters too and is always promoting them as strong women.

Farage toadys up to people who are more powerful than he is, so he can ride on their coat tails.

It's the "Look everyone, I'm friends with a powerful/famous person" thing, isn't it?

It's been a good couple of weeks for Starmer and Labour especially on the international stage but this move by Burnham puts them back into the mire. The 2nd half of their term will now likely be defined by internal squabbling.

I don't think it is the right time for him to do it. Unless he is playing a long game to go for leadership, but Manchester does have a boom going for it at the moment so he is taking a big gamble if he steps down as mayor.
I do think he should have waited a few more years, I do think reform will make waves in the next election but I also think reform will show what a load of hot air they've been spouting for so long (remember when farage said Brexit would give us millions for NHs each week than on the day of Brexit vote went on GMB and backtracked everything he said ) farage is also from the same machine as the rest of them in Westminster (top private school, career in the city) but he says what people want to hear without actually knowing how any of what he says is to be implemented.
I think Burnham could get there in the end but may take 10-15 years for it to happen. Interesting times ahead though.

I've worked with Burnham for a few years. He isn't a chauvinist. He might have swallowed the cool aid but he was very respectful and listened well to his female staff (like me). Which is more than could be said for many other politicians Ive worked with.

I agree, I know someone who works for him (female) and she really enjoys working for him and has had no issues with him, unlike other men she hs worked for. I have met him a couple of times at business events and really liked him
It is a shame he is all TWAW and I hate that but as a person I think he is basically decent. He would have been pretty unlikely to have become Mayor of Manchester if he was in any way not fully behind Trans ideology unfortunately