Burnham has been blocked!

[Ohcrap082024]

Just being reported on BBC news now. The NEC has met and refused to allow Andy Burnham to stand in the by-election. This is looking very bad for Starmer.

It's sad that we've got to the stage that we are actually asking 'why is going to be less shit for the country'?

Agree but this is position British Politics is in and I largely blame the way the media allows our politicians and officials to tell lies.. the rot set in during the Brexit referendum. Possibly even before I’m no historian.

Hilarious, Starmer is awful at politics. Watch the Greens or Reform win the by election and Streeting take the leadership. I’m delighted if AB isn’t PM, he’s far to far to the left.

David Cameron is where the rot began. He should never have held the referendum that he thought he'd win easily. The Remain campaign was abysmal while Brexiteers believed the lies on a bus.

If my DD16 and her mates are anything to go by, they'll be voting Green. They are the first generation who truly, truly gets how screwed the planet is and wants to do something about it, instead of paying lip service like the generations before them.

Anything outside of trying to stall climate change (because we're past the point of reversing it) is just noise.

Brilliant and that’s from one of the few remaining Labour supporters, so you admit they’ve run the country into the ground. Reform or Tories would make a better Government, essentially anyone whose core world view isn’t based on punishing success and authoritarian identity politics.

Ed M was the Labour party's preferred candidate, they literally wrote to members to members to vote for him as the preferred candidate and not David and whoever else was in the running at the time.

@AmplePlayer And that was a huge mistake. His brother appeared to be more competent but maybe wouldn't have been the unions choice.

there are endless threads listing them

Fine. Link to a couple of them @Dragonscaledaisy. You know the score - pictures/links or it didn’t happen.

Agree, definitely in my lifetime, might be other examples in history but for me he’s the one! Massive coward.

We ought to have laws where people can be prosecuted if it can be shown they have deliberately lied to the electorate in my opinion. I can think of many politicians of all stripes who would have been caught and convicted. Same goes for our wonderful press!!

I'm sure Andy Burnham has done a great job in Manchester. I'm also sure his time will come. But is this really the time? Starmer has done the best job possible in incredibly difficult circumstances - in particular on the international stage, which must be like walking on burning coals in bare feet currently. I've never warmed to him, but respect his sincerity and dedication to duty in the face of such difficult problems. It's like watching someone juggling with knives, at gunpoint.

Burnham is not a knight in shining armour coming to save the world, or even the Labour Party. Burnham is a career politician and a recovering Blairite. This whole thing is a massive, damaging distraction in the face of Reform and everything else that's going on in the world. And this "contest" can wait.

Brilliant you’ve not read my posts!! 😂

I agree with this, having a 17 year old myself. Many hate the woke issues that have been rammed down their necks for years at school etc and are (predictably) reacting. So Reform is currently attractive to many of that age. They don't have the collective memory of race riots etc that may put older people off Reform, they see the left as being authoritarian and intolerant and young people want to rebel against the status quo (ie the Government). They are also blaming Labour for the lack of job prospects. Girls of that age like ZP perhaps more than Reform. But none are the Labour lefties of previous generations at this age.

Interestingly that doesnt apply so much to my 20 year old who is completely uninspired by politics and I suspect probably won't bother to vote. I think he was a bit more open to (or relaxed about) left wing issues such as things like the trans ideology etc as the indoctrination at school went on before there was a proper push back from women. So the kids initially trusted what teachers told them. Unlike my 17 year old now. And as Keir Starmer doesn't know what a woman is, a lot of 17 year old boys despise that. Its really interesting. Totally different approach to when I was that age. I don't think Labour can't rely on the youth vote any more. Labour aren't mentioned really. Why should they be? They aren't helping young people.

To be honest, I wonder whether Burnham is breathing a sigh of relief. I think the PLP/ Cabinet is in such dire need of 'talent' that if he became leader he'd actually struggle to get things done with the current Cabinet. There aren't any particularly shining lights on the Labour benches who could replace them. It's all a bit depressing really. He put himself forward to be leader before - but wasn't elected. Were people pinning their hopes on him because he looked the best of a poor bunch of replacements for KS?

How can so many of you -presumably women - be so adoring of Burnham??
He is a vile man.
He didn’t want any enquiries into raping gangs - especially in his back yard- and he called them a thing of the past.
Also he would not say that the people (on the whole) being raped and abused were/are children!!
Too busy kow towing for the Muslim vote rather than protecting white girls from being raped. It’s an utter fucking disgrace and hopefully this is why the Labour Party will never get in again.

@MissMollyanna "Brilliant and that’s from one of the few remaining Labour supporters, so you admit they’ve run the country into the ground."

Hang on. You actually think Labour has singled handedly run the country into the ground? Were you by any chance in a coma during the 14 years of Tory misrule, corruption, sexual assaults, sleeze, blackmail and Brexit lies - as well as a staggering total of 5 Prime Ministers and christ knows how many reshuffles? The country was on its fucking knees when they finally left (and so were they). They heaved a collective sigh of relief when Labour won because they knew they wouldn't be the ones dealing with the fall out.

Only the one I responded to and quoted.

Agree.
Absolutely no guarantee he would win the by-election anyway. The very fact that it he was standing would make it even more of a circus. Labour are right to want to hold onto a labour mayor in GM.

Somebody competent would have cramped the style and diminished the power and control of the unions.
It would be great to hear from women, if there are any, who have had excellent support and assistance from Unison, for example...

It's interesting you say that. So why do you think that the polls so appalling for Labour. Presumably most people can compare the last Conservative government and this Labour one. KS is the most unpopular PM of all time. You don't get that accolade by being better than the other PMs presumably.

That's the point I was trying to make. 👍

Agree with some of this, but I think the biggest problem is their crap advisors… whoever is giving advice to Starmer needs sacking they keep getting wrong over and over..

I think he is using one of those paper fortune tellers we used to use at school in the 80s to make decisions (if anyone else remembers them). Just potluck what he might decide at any given time, depending on the number he lands on.

I think it was a the correct move for the benefit of the party. Reform inevitably going on to win the Manchester Mayoral election would have been a big thorn in Starmers side. Mayoralty suit Reform. You get to make a lot of noise without really having to do a lot.

I wouldn’t say single handed, but obviously yes..pick a factual metric not just throwing in words like misrule and sexual assault. If you want any life outside of being benefit dependent or an inclusivity officer for a public sector organisation then your life is much worse and it’s been deliberate. I wasn’t in a comma for 14 years no, are you by any chance a net recipient of our glorious tax system?