Burnham IS a Serious Challenge to Starmer Because.....

Possibly spot on: Burnham is perhaps the most appreciated LP leader by non Labour people - its come out in Gransnet many times.

I don't know much about AB, but if he does replace KS won't this just trigger another public reaction of, " Not another change!"?
It was the Conservatives changing PMs so often that in part lost them the election.

I'm not at all keen on Reform, but at least they have a leader who I think will go on and on forever!

Andy Burnham has been asked many times: he just doesn't want to: he is content doing what he does.

It's great to have a powerful figure like him who is slightly to the left, a key person in the Mainstream movement within the L Party.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream_(political_organisation)

Obviously his strong links with Lucy Powell, MP for Central Manchester, who is fairly likely to be elected deputy leader, (the way the wind is blowing) mean a strong Northern force challenging Keir Starmer on key issues.

Generally these are to ameliorate what people see as "going too far" on welfare issues and cuts, which is Mainstreams position.

Given Starmer's big positives - the strength and experience in international affairs for example, it feels to me that "all is in the right place" at the moment.

How strange.
Darren Jones, recently appointed Chief Secretary to Keir Starmer, has said that the current welfare system was failing people by locking them into a lifetime of dependency. The Welfare expenditure ( health and out-of -work payments ) bill is expected to reach £123 billion this year, which equals lower output as people leave work and more taxation therefore less income for those who are working.

The far-left of the party scuppered attempts to introduce some changes in welfare and disability payments: apparently they are there to prevent Things Going Too Far. Really?

And as for Starmer, who cannot neither influence nor control his own party, he has no previous wealth or experience in international affairs other than toadying to the ECHR.

All is most certainly not in the right place at the moment.
No wonder Reform continues its frightening rise.

I think Starmer's low key personality is the key really. He's actually doing a lot of really good quiet work and getting on with the boring nuts and bolts of government. The outside world is in a difficult situation right now. We need a steady hand on the national and international tiller right now. He may not be a big personality but we did have one - Boris- and that didn't do us much good.

Aveline

I think Starmer's low key personality is the key really. He's actually doing a lot of really good quiet work and getting on with the boring nuts and bolts of government. The outside world is in a difficult situation right now. We need a steady hand on the national and international tiller right now. He may not be a big personality but we did have one - Boris- and that didn't do us much good.

Many people didn't like Boisterous Boris for the fact that he wasn't serious enough - then rejected the more serious Rishi and now serious Starmer is criticised for being boring!

Do we really know what we want?

I ve always liked and appreciated Andy Burnham a solid pair of hands I d love to see him as PM

Why is this still being discussed?

Burnham has said he doesn't want to be PM.

Why would anyone put themselves up to lead a Party predicted to have less seats than the Lib Dems at the next GE?
Not my words of doom but the prediction of a YouGuv poll.

It's a shame that personalities seem so important these days. We really don't know these people and only see them in TV often in well orchestrated snippets of speeches or interviews. I like Andy Burnham too but I don't know why!

Maybe because he seems more down to earth and sensible than a lot Aveline he doesn’t seem to want to be a ‘personality but feels a safer pair of hands
I think he would be a popular leader

Interesting editorial in the Guardian today.

Without actually endorsing Burnham it suggests approval of Burnham's stance

Enter Mr Burnham, sketching a different course. His “Manchesterism” sees national control of the essentials: housing, energy, transport, water. He wants prices regulated via public coordination to keep costs low. He says long-term borrowing should be used to build the social stock. He is unafraid to float another £40bn for social housing, or to dismiss “bond vigilantes” as arbiters of affordability. On the continent this is normal politics. In Britain it marks a bracing break with the post-1980s consensus.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/26/the-guardian-view-on-labour-conference-a-clash-of-visions-and-direction-not-egos-and-personnel

I'm not sure how he would be on the international stage, and it's not where his heart lies, although of course he is 100% on issues like Gaza, Ukraine, intractable situations in Africa, and so on.

If his heart lies in a city he loves, and wants to stay there and nurture it, why should he seek something he may know he is not suited for and does not wish to do?

I feel "leave him be" - if the time comes when he changes his mind, then he would be the first to step up.

If you look back at past PMs, which ones have had any particular qualifications to star on the 'international stage'? If Starmer is so good at it Burnham could appoint him as his Foreign Secretary...

I feel that that Burnham's heart, even though it might lie in the city he loves, it lies more in restoring the principles of the Labour party he has served in, sometimes at quite high levels, for decades.

He doesn't seem at all reluctant to put himself forward to be the one to help restore those principles. Lengthy interviews in the New Statesman and the Telegraph (of all places!) and spearheading the new 'Mainstream Labour' network don't say 'reluctance' to me.

Good points MaizieD

I wonder if it is a northern thing, as we don’t hear much about Burnham down here?

He seems a bit light weight?

Whitewavemark2

I wonder if it is a northern thing, as we don’t hear much about Burnham down here?

He seems a bit light weight?

Of course it's a 'northern thing' that we don't hear much about. It's the North South divide, isn't it? The media is southcentric.

Who is a 'heavyweight' among our current crop of Westminster politicians?

Ooh that's a tough in MaizieD

One

But tbh , I can’t see Burnham being a serious contender. He isn’t a MP for a start, and he has unsuccessfully gone for leadership twice.

Third time lucky...?

Mind you I couldn't believe Penny Mordaunt wasn't voted for as Tory leader.

KS useless but who is there to replace him. AB better off in his home City.