Post-Makerfield: what do you predict will happen in the next week?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Following Burnham's decisive victory, what do you all predict will happen in the coming week?

I think in fact Starmer will see sense and step away, realising the optics of a leadership contest.

It actually doesn’t matter. The right wing press had it in for Starmer and the labour government from the start and it will continue until they get what they want which would appear to be a reform government.
I heard something on the radio yesterday and it really resonated with me. Nobody is prepared to wait for results. They want everything they perceive to be wrong with their world to be fixed straight away, maybe because nobody has an attention span that lasts longer than 5 minutes anymore.
The mess left by the tories was always going to take time to fix but Starmer has not been given enough yet.
Why anyone thinks it will be different with Burnham is beyond me.

I thought Starmer would stick it out but reading the news today it seems more likely there will be some sort of timetable for a leadership campaign. I don't think that the general population will benefit, it's all about political ambition. How much is a world cruise? Can I take the dog?

I can do better than a 'next week' prediction. Self serving Burnham all ramped up from his win will put pressure on Starmer to quit, now with full support of the lefties. Starmer will leave within the next week prompting leadership challenge. Burnham will get majority backing from his party and be installed into number 10. Lefty policies will be implemented with great gusto - increased benefits for the feckless and defence slashed. Money spent that we dont have. Middle England taxed to the hilt. Will over promise and under deliver. And will install the awful Angela Rayner as his deputy side kick. UK will crash and burn. Labour are really delusional if they really think this is what the UK public want or need. Had he been up in front of the voting public of the UK, he wouldnt stand a chance of being voted prime minister, so he's getting in through the back door to try wreak as much havoc as possible before the next GE.

It isnt about Starmer at this point. Its about the Labour party. Maybe Starmer could turn the country round and repair, but his party are a rag tag bunch of far lefties, who used the moderate Starmer to get them in, so that they could then groom and look for a far left replacement to push him out. The public dont want a far left government. But looks like we're gonna get one....

Help me understand how Andy Burnham is far left. Absolutely ridiculous and you prove my point. You’ve been fed a line and you believe it is the truth.

Spot on. I blame the few idiots that voted for Labour. This was going to be the case all along. The disease that is the hard left will finish off what is left of the U.K.

This is not what the majority want but the only way for them to seize power. Scary times.

He will have to stick to the pre election manifesto.

This is so funny! My late Dad said exactly the same. He also knew Burnham and worked with him on Trade Union stuff. I was also thinking of him last night.

Maybe he has proven himself to be far left previously. He was a shadow minister for Corbyn, and we all know that you can’t get much further left than Corbyn. It’s the far left in the Labour Party who have been championing him to go for PM. Could it be that he’s manipulating some people into thinking he’s a moderate? Who knows. But I’m sure all will become very clear if (when) he gains control of number 10….

Starmer was also in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. Burnham is from the Red Tory school. He’s not remotely hard left.

Far left 😂

They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’ve been sold the lefty line like we are in 1950s America.

Trump uses radical left, I can see that making an appearance soon.

Ofcourse Badenoch accused Reform of having left wing policies,so if that is the base line.......

I think it’s going to get very ugly for Starmer next week and he will have stepped down. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s an announcement on Monday. I bet he’s spending the weekend discussing it with his family.

And yes, unfortunately I think we will end up with Andy Burnham as our new PM. He’s a lot further to left than Starmer. I think this will rally support for Reform, and increase their chances of winning the next GE.

I don’t like Reform or Labour and will be voting Conservative FWIW.

OMG you folks are amazing. He’s still a red Tory even if slightly further left than Starmer you will not notice it much.
Reform had the opportunity to nip all this in the bud and they couldn’t do it. That’s the only positive I see here. Reform cannot get good enough people in really important constituencies so I really Nigel better think of a new career because he’s not going to be PM next time around.

Can I change my prediction?

According to the Telegraph, allies of Keir Starmer believe he is preparing to step down after facing an evaporation of support over the weekend.

A senior government figure told The Telegraph the embattled Prime Minister was realising that the “game is up” and his thoughts were turning to how he could “shore up his legacy”.

They said there had been “quite a bit of movement” among Cabinet ministers since Andy Burnham’s Makerfield by-election victory, leading Sir Keir to reconsider his previous commitment to soldiering on.

One Labour MP, who is usually considered to be a loyalist to the Prime Minister, said he believed Sir Keir would announce his departure date as soon as Monday given that his support among MPs was now down to only a handful of “friends and family”.

“There’s no one left. Literally people whose relatives work in No 10 or people who are long term personal friends of Keir’s are pretty much the only ones left,” they said, adding that trying to stand in the way of Mr Burnham’s path to Downing Street was “like trying to fight gravity”.

One government figure predicted that “something will have happened by the end of the week”, warning that if Sir Keir did not resign “we could end up in mass resignation territory”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/06/20/starmer-ready-to-step-down-allies-say/

@Twiglets1 was coming on to say the same thing!

Listening to Times Radio on my run this morning and they are saying, Starmer has made a decision and will announce tomorrow (Mon).

The BBC are reporting on the same thing.

• Cabinet minister Peter Kyle says Keir Starmer is reflecting on the "political realities" facing him
• Kyle says he had a "thoughtful conversation" with Starmer on Friday and that the PM is focusing on the country's "best interests"
• "I can't predict the future. I don't know what's going to unfold in the days that lie ahead," he tells BBC's Laura Kuenssberg
• The tone from Government has changed this morning, Kyle is not repeating the often made argument that the PM plans to fight on

I can predict that the BBC will start the news summaries with speculation rather than news.

Keir Starmer will sneak out the back door super early, get an uber to Bucky P and ask Charles to call a general election. Self promoting little shit weasel ( AB) will be like “but Keir how could you? I thought we had an agreement” and Keir will be like “lolz no. Arsenal has won the premiership and I’m off on hols to celebrate. Enjoy fighting off reform, grifter”

and they all lived happily ever after.

@AllJoyAndNoFun ha! That would be the most politically shrewd thing he's ever done! Love it.

Now I do like this post - it would be hilarious.

Right now AB is "Keir just meekly step aside, let's not make a fuss and be a good boy".
If I was Keir I'd so follow your advice!

Go Keir’

You know you want to!

Not sure about the rest of that list but he's already u-turned on the Waspi women issue ...

It's a fun story but the monarch would have grounds to refuse as another PM could be found who could govern.

It's really not normal to go so early just due to a change of PM - not for Thatcher, not Blair, none of the revolving door Tories.