Andy Burnham is standing!

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

The fact that Starmer would rather increase the risk of Reform winning the seat than have Burnham as an MP/possible challenge to him speaks volumes about Starmer.

Not really. Losing one seat takes Labour's majority down to 160 something. Big whoop. No material difference. Lose the mayoral seat of a big region: far more impactful and disruptive. Burnham is more valuable where he is.

he will be a loss to Manchester but I think that in the scheme of things the country needs him more.

I agree. And it would lead to months of disruption and speculation, just waiting for him to launch a leadership challenge. He may not even win it. I think it shows Burnham in a bad light. It shows disloyalty to the people of Manchester as well as being willing to put his own ambitions and ego ahead of party unity. Im no fan of Starmer. I think hes been weak and communicated badly with his backbenchers, meaning they feel happy undermining him and the government at every turn, which has made the government look weak and incompetent. Burnham will be the same and come up with the same problem. Why do they want another centrist? They dont. They want someone else but they want someone there who is able to challenge Starmer and trigger a leadership challenge.

I don’t get a sense that people in Manchester feel betrayed. I think it would be good to have a northerner as PM. There was a comment in The Times today saying no one will be able to understand his accent if he became PM. That sort of thing makes me want him to do it.

This is about Starmer’s career over a seat or mayoralty

It may not have saved him anyway given earlier support for Burnham from Rayner, Powell, Khan and unions. They won’t be happy he was blocked.

How will they feel if they get a Reform mayor?
Just because he wanted to stand wont make him automatically PM. Its equally possible that he would stand and lose either to Reform or Zack Polanski ( there are rumours he wants to stand in the seat for the Greens). Even if he won, he would have to try and drum up enough support for a leadership challenge and win it ( not guaranteed- hes lost twice to the titans that were Ed Milliband and Jeremy Corbyn) all before 2029. Then probably lose because Labour would have spent all that time tearing themselves apart, which they are exceptionally good at.

Married to the mayor sounds much more fun than married to the PM or leader of the opposition I’ve got to say

I’m a Mancunian. I would not feel at all betrayed if AB left the mayoralty to go back to Westminster- the north needs a strong voice there.

he’s done a fantastic job for Manchester but I suspect three terms is enough for him

This

Interesting bit on the World This Weekend- most current Labour MP don’t know AB, he is an older generation, so would he get a third shot at being leader?

Why does it concern Tory posters on here whether Burnham stands or not? i couldn't give a toss if e.g David Cameron wanted to be an MP again.

Labour selection rules are that if a candidates selection will lead to significant extra election costs, he/she shouldn't be allowed to stand, 8 people believed this to be the case...1 did not.

A new Mayoral election would cost around 1.4m, that CT payers would have to fund.

Would tax payers in Manchester prefer that money to be spent on social care? roads? etc etc or on a vanity contest?

Also, I’m from Manchester and have lived down south for half my life, I can assure you that many southerners are not ready for someone who speaks like me or AB, to be PM. There’s a huge amount of prejudice agaist people from the north in my experience.

Sadly I think there's some truth to this. I listened to the R5 phone in about this the other day, there were several callers from down south saying Burnham is too left wing, too this, too that, too the other. Sounded like a barely disguised "too northern" to me.

Be thankful you’re not from the SW. We’re openly ridiculed and a PM with the accent will probably never happen.

In what world does left wing mean Northern! The North is a red wall, far more conservative than the south at this time. Sorry but I think Northerners have a tendency to assume other people are obsessing over their accent/homeplace far more than they actually are.

@Playingvideogames where on earth did you get that from? Have you ever been to the Red Wall? No way is it more conservative than the South. Just look at the sitting MPs.

It never ceases to amaze me how politically illiterate some people are. Out of 36 seats in the so called ‘Red Wall’ 34 are held by Labour and the other 2 by the Conservatives.
On what planet can someone say the Red wall is more conservative than the South of England?

The Midland and North are heavier in their support for Reform than the South is.

The old rules of ‘Northern socialists’ no longer apply it seems.

And it’s very likely many will fall to Reform at the next election.

You know this for a fact? Reform supporters have loud voices but everyone I know despises them. Your claims are simply not true. Not everyone in the north is a knuckle dragging racist, despite what you want to believe. Your prejudice against the north isn’t supported by facts.

nobody knows what will happen at the next GE.

Reform has managed to gain support in the more deprived areas such as Hull, Lincolnshire etc but not really in places like Leeds and Manchester.

The current MRP looks a very different colour to the map in@Playingvideogamespost, ik hers shows second place but polling now is very low on red.

Meant this for @Lobbygobbler

All 3 Hull MPs are Labour…

Let’s see what happens at the next GE shall we instead of all this speculation. Reform has been a protest vote and whilst I detest them I understand why that has happened after the generational neglect these communities have experienced. It’s desperation that’s driven it and politicians have been too blind or stupid to realise that. I also strongly believe the support for Reform has peaked.