Today’s high noon for Andy Burnham (well 5pm) – politicalbetting.com
Today’s high noon for Andy Burnham (well 5pm) – politicalbetting.com
The very swift timetable for the Gorton and Denton ?@UKLabour? candidate selection The actual by election likely end of Feb ?@AndyBurnhamGM? has until tomorrow at 5pm to ‘seek permission’ from the NEC to stand (all sitting mayors need permission) pic.twitter.com/B8L2UnlFqB
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The best result for Andy Burnham is to get told no, or blocked via shortlist comedy.
Then campaign enthusiastically for whoever is picked.
That would increase his popularity with all sections of the Labour Party.
Well done for spotting the subtle references to Western films in the header.
Computer says no...
‘ NEW York mayor Zohran Mamdani has been sent a baby box by the Scottish Government.’
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25790685.zohran-mamdani-given-baby-box-scottish-government/
But if he does Starmer's best move is to let events take their course and not block him.
For the political watcher a Burnham/Galloway/Reform/Polanski by election would be box office.
Reform can probably find a former Tory MP to stand, Tories and LDs will probably run paper candidates.
Galloway is living overseas IIRC, will he want to come back in order to stand?
Polanski definitely has to contend pretty much every by-election himself, having become leader of the party while not in Parliament.
The Magnificent Seven.
Oh - As Starmer faces his Alamo could Burnham find Lab their El Dorado and make them the Undefeated. Or will they remain The Searchers? Will they face a fearsome assault from Ed Davey and his Comancheros? Alright the last bit might be stretching it.
Maybe it's 12D chess and Labour are betting the house on Manchester being like Gaza by 2029 after three Reform years.
(I'm not sure who would fill which role!)
As things stand, Andy has neither thrown his Capp in the ring, nor pointedly put it back on his head. It remains to be seen how much of the speculation is fevered nonsense and how much is accurate fevered nonsense.
We might see the the good, the bad, and the ugly if Sir Keir Starmer blocks Burnham from standing, will Sir Keir be unforgiven?
It would be a least bad option for Streeting, in the sense that he won't have to compete against a strong candidate in the form of Burnham. But I think he'll still be hit by the fallout against the factional right of the party, of which he is clearly a part. So his position will remain weaker than if Gwynne had not resigned in the first place.
The beneficiaries look to be Rayner (if she can stand, HMRC permitting) or any other soft left candidate who will get the backing of Burnham (if Rayner can't stand.)
Burnham will benefit indirectly in that it will improve the chances of his supported candidate eventually winning, and he'll have been instrumental in that outcome, so he could look forward to being made a Lord and a Cabinet post under the new leader.
Taking all that into account, I think Burnham will throw his hat into the ring today, in full expectation that he'll be turned down.
Pulling the trigger at this point in the cycle makes him uniquely unsuited for high office.
There is an enormous potential for jeopardy. All of which doesn't bode well for his party. He could lose the by election dramatically, and he is then personally done for. If he scrapes home Labour lose the Mayoralty to Reform which would be calamitous.
Remember too in September when he went on manoeuvres prior to the Conference he came home chastened.
Why would that be illegal?
https://x.com/tomhfh/status/2014647966259097695
I am not lawyer, so I don't know, but the wording seems bloody clear to me. Women short list ok. Not BAME. Or even Global Majority.
A virgin staying alert.
Who needs to remain aloof from Leon.
I refuse to believe that there is anyone on PB who does not recognise the reference.
Maybe not, “Today’s” just doesn’t seem right to me
How the Wets Was Won
He should get on with the job that the people of Greater Manchester entrusted him to do and forget about Westminster.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CpQRk3uLyVs
https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2015019853157986544?s=20
Or is it the Teddy Bear's Picnic??
I read it as Burnham having a High Noon every day, or at least multiple HN's. It doesn't feel right in a headline. But maybe the fault lies with me
There's an overlap in the Venn diagram, but it's far from perfect.
I only know I must be brave
And I must face Keir Starmer's deadline
Or lie a coward, a craven coward
Or lie a coward in my grave
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'
You made that promise when we wed
Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'
Although you're grievin', I can't be leavin'
Unless I make Keir Starmer red
I'm sorry, this is unacceptable. I want studious young men on laptops. Middle aged men with nose hair and good suits who work in the City. Prissy older women who look like Theresa May and tut if somebody says something. England, you have disappointed me.
Labour insiders estimate it could cost the party £1.5m to organise and fight both a Westminster by-election and one for the Greater Manchester mayoralty, should Andy Burnham stand down.
“We can’t bankrupt the party just for one person’s ego,” says one MP.
https://x.com/KevinASchofield/status/2015025430722425264
And then hand Manc mayorship to Reform???
Kyiv says Moscow used 396 drones and missiles in ‘another night of Russian terror’ on second day of talks in UAE
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/24/russia-launches-deadly-strikes-on-kyiv-and-kharkiv-ahead-of-day-two-of-peace-talks
Miliband held a banana at a Labour Party Conference and totally ended his leadership bid forever, had to become a Thunderbird.
Someone who hasn't scored for eight games.........................................
Burnham appears more like the Zak Crawley of politics.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRpV0GePYeM
Anyway, my favourite act of the 20s, one that combine the humour, small town localism and post-punk vibe that many of my preferred 20s acts have in some permutation, have a new album out.
I'm enjoying the album without being fully convinced by everything yet, but the linked track has landed square on the Trump Greenland crisis and I'm masochistically loving it as a terrifying and timely dissection of Trump's psyche. I'm not always convinced by all the left politics in all their more agit songs, though their music does ultimately carry the day most times, but this is spot on for me:
Kid Kapichi - Leader of the Free World (audio)
https://youtu.be/17-96d_24-g?si=hL_AV0ivbKAaeIIv
Burnham is more a modest, mediocre, journeyman pottering around the lower levels of the Premier League.
An average player with an overinflated opinion of himself.
Robbie Savage.
So, if Burnham wants to be selected and the NEC want to stop him, they'll have to find another way.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cp801njpr8zo
Zak Crawley is currently playing at the very top level. Not well, but he is there.
For the Burnham analogy to work, we have to fast-forward a couple of years, to when Zak is back on the county circuit. Quite possibly with decent scores, because the game is easier at that level.
Anyone saying "Zak for England" would rightly be ignored for being a bit of a chump,
You say 'county circuit' when you mean 'Kent Cricket League.'
It is a specific exception to Equality Law. I have not checked, but I assume it means men as well.
Edit - and he's not dropped, he's injured.
Genuine question. I believe they have close to 50% female MPs, and the Commons as a whole is probably representative of gay/lesbians in the general population, plus ethnic minority representation has soared since the year 2000, so it'd be interesting, if a BAME shortlist were imposed, what the stats are.