Andy Burnham has said winning the Makerfield by-election is giving Labour its ‘last chance to change’.
But this ‘change’ won’t be a change in leadership, if Sir Keir Starmer is concerned.
Sir Keir insisted this morning that if a leadership contest happens, he intends to stand, while his spokesperson stressed there’s no PM vacancy, while calls for him to step down have intensified.
Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, romped to victory over his Reform UK rivals, defeating Nigel Farage’s party by almost 10,000 votes.
Sir Keir wrote a 20-word post on X: ‘Congratulations, Andy Burnham, Labour’s new MP for Makerfield. Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.’
Speaking at a rally, Burnham said his triumph over Reform will help stop the UK from becoming like the US, ‘where people don’t talk to each other in the street if they vote different ways’.
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Calls for Sir Keir Starmer to announce a timeline for him to stand down are growing.
Zubir Ahmed, the MP for Glasgow South West, said that those closest to Sir Keir have a responsibility to tell the PM ‘where things are at.’
He told Sky News: ‘I haven’t been in touch with any Cabinet ministers myself in the last few days, but that is ultimately one of the responsibilities of cabinet government in our unwritten constitution, that at times like this they do have an authority and a moral imperative to articulate very honestly to the Prime Minister where things are at.’
An election wouldn’t be an election if Count Binface, the unstoppable’space warrior,’ didn’t make an appearance or stand as a candidate.
Things in politics either take a long, long time or happen in a flash. There’s no in-between.