Andy Burnham has plan to return to Westminster ‘within weeks’. Allies sayGreater Manchester mayor said to have identified seats where MPs would step aside to allow leadership bid.

DaisyAnneReturns

Basgetti

LemonJam

There are plenty that do like Burnham though. He has higher approval ratings than any of the other contenders. January 2026 You Gov poll indicated that 40% of 2024 GE Labour voters thought he would be a better PM than Starmer- and 47% of Briton, including 38% of Labour voters believe it would be better for the country if Starmer was replaced as PM by Burnham. And that was January.

However Burnham not currently an MP so not a viable vote of no confidence contender at this stage.

But- it can be reasonably inferred that Starmer is very much aware of those You Gov polls- more favourable to Burnham and a majority that feel he would make a better PM than himself. Make of that what you will.....I know what I make of it.

Farage appears to be quite popular, too 😁

Not sure public appeal should be the main qualification.

Farage appears to be quite popular, too 😁

Not sure public appeal should be the main qualification.

We really have been reduced to popularity contests dictating who comes and who goes, and how soon are those ignorant of the facts going to take before they are board and looking for "new" entertainment. We could stop having elections altogether for what they are eorth these days. Now the 2 minute brains are controlled by a press owned by very rich people who generally don't live or pay taxes in this country. So much for democracy.

Yes

Yes it is terrible when people you consider less bright than you are allowed to vote.

Why is Burnham popular ? I have no time for him now that he has proved himself underhand and untrustworthy.

It's quite irrelevant what most of us think and what opposition parttes and the media say. The Labour Party has clear rules about leadership contests: only Lab MPs and Party members have a vote. Starmers knows the rules. He can replace junior Ministers and bag carriers from willing backbenchers at the drop of a hat.

westendgirl

Why is Burnham popular ? I have no time for him now that he has proved himself underhand and untrustworthy.

1) In what way has Burnham been underhand and trustworthy?

2) In what way has Burnham been more or less underhanded and trustworthy than the other possible/probable PM replacement contenders?

3) Is Burnham or any other of the possible/probable contenders entirely, mostly or not at all, responsible for Starmer's vulnerable position as PM following the local elections last week?

Galaxy

Yes it is terrible when people you consider less bright than you are allowed to vote.

Every citizen should take an IQ test and a course in PPE and Central and Local Government before being allowed to vote.

Now the 2 minute brains are controlled by a press owned by very rich people who generally don't live or pay taxes in this country. So much for democracy.

It is comments like these which explain why Labour, which professes to be the party of working people, is so unpopular. Nobody, including those apparently totally unqualified to hold a voting slip, cares to be patronised.
It isn't working class anymore, dear, it is working people just like Starmer. Haven't you listened to him extolling the virtues of his supposed background?

eazybee

^Now the 2 minute brains are controlled by a press owned by very rich people who generally don't live or pay taxes in this country. So much for democracy.^

It is comments like these which explain why Labour, which professes to be the party of working people, is so unpopular. Nobody, including those apparently totally unqualified to hold a voting slip, cares to be patronised.
It isn't working class anymore, dear, it is working people just like Starmer. Haven't you listened to him extolling the virtues of his supposed background?

I don't think DAR has ever professed to be 'Labour', though.

Not a good idea to pin things on Labour which aren't necessarily true.

eazybee

^Now the 2 minute brains are controlled by a press owned by very rich people who generally don't live or pay taxes in this country. So much for democracy.^

It is comments like these which explain why Labour, which professes to be the party of working people, is so unpopular. Nobody, including those apparently totally unqualified to hold a voting slip, cares to be patronised.
It isn't working class anymore, dear, it is working people just like Starmer. Haven't you listened to him extolling the virtues of his supposed background?

I'm sure Daisy is perfectly capable of explaining her own words, but I didn't understand "two minute brains" to be the "working class" (whoever they may be). It's been shown that most people don't read newspaper articles in detail. They spend two minutes (if that) reading the headlines and maybe the bylines (and looking at the pictures). All journalists know that, which is why so much thought is put into headlines and why the Sun, in particular, comes up with such awful attention-grabbing puns. People are influenced by the headlines, whether or not they admit it (or even realise).

That's who I thought were meant by "two minute brains", who are not necessarily unintelligent (never mind any particular "class"), but could be people who are busy or just not that interested in the details of news stories.

eazybee

^Now the 2 minute brains are controlled by a press owned by very rich people who generally don't live or pay taxes in this country. So much for democracy.^

It is comments like these which explain why Labour, which professes to be the party of working people, is so unpopular. Nobody, including those apparently totally unqualified to hold a voting slip, cares to be patronised.
It isn't working class anymore, dear, it is working people just like Starmer. Haven't you listened to him extolling the virtues of his supposed background?

Why do you associate my comments with Labour? This is not only true of what is happening to them now but has already happened to PM after PM under the Conservatives. Just like them, by doing this Labour will gain nothing but the disintegration of their party.

Spot on twaddle thank you. I see what remains of the Forth Estate as "the enemy". Although stiĺl needed, they have reduced democracy all over the free world.

The thing is those who profess to spend a lot of time engaging in current affairs have attached themselves to some of the most ridiculous ideas known to man in the last few years, ooh yes Mandelsson would be ideal, oh yes globalise the intifada, oh yes women have a penis, be kind, oh the mannosphere ( a word we didn't know last week), and on and on. I think we should give the '2 minute people' a chance, I feel they may do better.

Definitely time to do less, get back to basics but do them well. Most voters would appreciate that I think.

Nearer to the truth I think, is that however we are ourselves, we think we are right most of the time, and it’s ‘them others’ who are misguided. By stating the things you think are ridiculous, you’re firmly in that camp.

Andy Burnham’s popularity is linked to his excellent work on Hillsborough and as Mayor of Manchester. Independent polls show he’d have won the Gorton and Denton seat if he’d not been blocked. IMO that decision made Starmer no friends.

Of all possible candidates in a future leadership race, Burnham most likely to succeed and might be able to turn the public less away from Labour.

He was active in Gtr Manchester constituencies during the election campaign and is said to work well with Starmer. Hoping to replace him and prioritise Labour policies doesn’t seem dishonest at this stagev

Unless of course Streeting steals a March on him Iam
Burnham isn’t even an MP yet
And if he tries to be one (is there even a ‘safe seat’ any more in the Red Wall?) then Reform UK will throw the kitchen sink at that ‘popularity contest’.

Pass the popcorn …

Not when you are proved right Casdon

I have a little soft spot for Streeting but he is very strongly linked to Mandelsson, and I would like some considerable distance to be created from that disaster.

The hard lesson is in learning from the times when we’re not right Galaxy, and not making the same mistake again. We have to live in hope.

Yes personally I think that's partly why it can't be Streeting.

Indeed I haven't Maizie. "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

I don’t want Streeting and he’s been lining himself up for some time. He interviews well, an asset in many ways but Mandelson and the alleged links with private medicine do worry me.
I take your point about safe seats FGT but Andy is popular in the north, not sure about Surrey 🤣

We are short of a strong candidate

i think people are over confident about Burnham being returned for a safe seat, even if one could be found.

Does anyone remember Patrick Gordon Walker? He was a Labour MP but lost his seat unexpectedly in the 1964 election when Harold Wilson became PM. Wilson wanted him in his government, so a Labour MP with a big majority was made a member of the House of Lords so that there would be a by election and Walker would stand and get elected into Parliaament.

But it did not work as planned. The voters in that constituency were so angered by this action, that they all turned on Walker and voted for the other canddate, regardless of their real party allegiances and Gordon Walker lost that seat as well.

Andy Burnham, may well be aware of his story and going very slowly. It would be fatal to his ambitions to stand in a by election - and lose.

It is by convention that the PM is an MP, it’s not law. It would, if they chose to do so, be possible to appoint Burnham as the leader of the Labour Party and make him PM without an election.

Galaxy

I have a little soft spot for Streeting but he is very strongly linked to Mandelsson, and I would like some considerable distance to be created from that disaster.

We've been talking about the corrupting influence of donations in connection with Farage. Why should it be any different for Streeting who is heavily funded by private health care interests? These donations comprise more than half his donated funds and have increased sine he became Health Secretary

As AI puts it: ..among private individual/company donors, the healthcare-adjacent group appears unusually prominent for a Health Secretary.