{"id":16091,"date":"2026-01-27T06:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=16091"},"modified":"2026-01-27T06:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:53:18","slug":"tuesday-briefing-why-labour-banned-burnham-and-what-the-king-of-the-north-might-do-next-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=16091","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday briefing: Why Labour banned Burnham \u2013 and what the \u2018King of the North\u2019 might do next | Andy Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Good morning. The \u201cKing of the North\u201d will not be marching south \u2013 at least not for now.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham has been barred from standing as an MP<\/a> in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton byelection, after a 10-strong \u201cofficers\u2019 group\u201d of Labour\u2019s ruling body, which includes the prime minister, voted overwhelmingly to reject his request to stand. It has left the party, once again, in turmoil.<\/p>\n

The controversial decision staves off, at least for now, a potential leadership challenge. But the move has infuriated some Labour<\/a> MPs and the party\u2019s union backers. It was described as \u201cpetty factionalism\u201d, a \u201chuge mistake\u201d and cowardly, and has been condemned as a failure by the party leadership to embrace the country\u2019s most popular Labour politician.<\/p>\n

No 10 will hope the anger blows over and the decision swiftly ends this round of Labour\u2019s chaos and, as one senior cabinet member put it, \u201cpsychodrama\u201d. By putting out one fire, though, the party, as always, may have ignited several others.<\/p>\n

To understand why No 10 made this move and what is next for Andy Burnham<\/a> and the party, I spoke to Peter Walker<\/strong><\/em>, the Guardian\u2019s senior political correspondent. That\u2019s after the headlines.<\/p>\n

Five big stories<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    US news<\/strong><\/em> | Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to deploy militarised immigration agents in US cities may finally be reaching a reckoning as he faces widespread opposition across the US<\/a>, dissenting lawmakers in his own party, and impending court rulings after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    UK news<\/strong><\/em> | Former home secretary Suella Braverman has defected to Reform UK<\/a>, making her the third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage\u2019s party in little more than a week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Europe<\/strong><\/em> | As many as 380 people may have drowned<\/a> attempting to cross the Mediterranean last week during Cyclone Harry, as a shipwreck that killed 50 is confirmed by Maltese authorities.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Saudi Arabia<\/strong><\/em> | A judge has ordered Saudi Arabia to pay more than \u00a33m in damages<\/a> to London-based dissident Ghanem al-Masarir, whose phones were targeted with Pegasus spyware.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Ukraine | <\/strong><\/em>A US security agreement for Ukraine is \u201c100% ready\u201d to be signed<\/a>, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, after two days of talks<\/a> involving representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In depth: \u2018They see the threats from Reform getting bigger and bigger\u2019<\/h2>\n
    <\/svg><\/span>Sir Keir Starmer, left, and Andy Burnham at the funeral of Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd in February 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Furlong\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In a fateful Zoom meeting last weekend, Labour\u2019s national executive committee scuppered Andy Burnham\u2019s bid to return to Westminster. Though the move was seen as a deeply political one, the argument justifying it was procedural. Allowing Burnham to stand would have meant a costly mayoral byelection and political distraction, Labour\u2019s leadership said.<\/p>\n

    So what happens now? Peter Walker tells me Burnham (above right, with Starmer) simply goes back to his two day jobs: \u201cBeing mayor of Greater Manchester<\/a> and getting on Keir Starmer\u2019s nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Burnham has long played a dual role inside Labour. As Peter puts it: \u201cBurnham always says loyal things,\u201d but at the same time insists: \u201cWe could be doing this, we could be doing that.\u201d Burnham has never hidden the fact that he believes that if he were in Westminster, \u201che would be a better choice than Keir Starmer to lead the Labour party and give it a kind of direction\u201d. (It is worth reading my colleague Archie Bland\u2019s First Edition on Burnham\u2019s political ambitions<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

    In some ways, Peter says, this is simply a politician\u2019s ego. \u201cThere is always, in any party, probably 20 or 30 people who think they could be doing a better job.\u201d But for a growing number of Labour MPs, Burnham\u2019s appeal goes beyond that. \u201cThey see the threats from Reform getting bigger and bigger,\u201d Peter says, and they worry that \u201cif we stay under Keir, the country may be changed forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Burnham\u2019s evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Burnham\u2019s political journey has not been a straight line. He ran for the leadership in 2010, coming fourth, and again in 2015, finishing second to Jeremy Corbyn. Back then, Peter says, he was seen as \u201cMr Cabinet Minister\u201d, who was loyal and would get the job done.<\/p>\n

    At that time he was broadly a centrist, but two things changed him, Peter explains. The first was Hillsborough. \u201cThere was this famous occasion where he was culture secretary when the government was holding out against a formal inquiry and he got booed,\u201d Peter says. \u201cHe went back to cabinet and argued, \u2018We need to do something about it,\u2019\u201d then went on to play a central role in getting the Hillsborough law passed.<\/p>\n

    The second was becoming mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 and building what he now calls \u201cManchesterism\u201d (Burnham himself delved into what that means for the Guardian<\/a> a few days ago.) Peter describes this form of governing as \u201csoft left, pro-growth, but quite interventionist devolution\u201d. It\u2019s about giving people local powers, but intervening when necessary, and includes public ownership of utilities.<\/p>\n

    The clearest expression of this ideology is the Bee Network<\/a>, Greater Manchester\u2019s integrated transport system linking buses, trams, cycling and walking. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty good,\u201d Peter says. \u201cAside from London, it\u2019s a model of how UK cities can do integrated transport.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Peter remembers how fervently Burnham was pushing for this kind of governing at the Labour party conference in 2021, when Starmer was in opposition and Labour were suffering under the Boris Johnson vaccine bounce. \u201cI actually asked his aide at the time the number of fringe meetings he\u2019d been to, and they had lost count,\u201d he says. \u201cHe would say then, \u2018This is what it\u2019s like to be Labour actually in power. This is what we need to do\u2019.\u201d It places him on the left, Peter says, but far from the politics of the Jeremy Corbyn era.<\/p>\n

    \n

    To block or not to block<\/strong><\/p>\n

    From Labour\u2019s perspective, this was an open and shut case, Peter tells me. Party rules prevent mayors from standing as MPs because of their policing responsibilities. Burnham was \u201cseeking an exception\u201d, and \u201cthey didn\u2019t think there was a good enough reason why\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Had he been selected, Burnham would have had to step down as mayor partway through his term, triggering a Greater Manchester<\/a> byelection covering 27 constituencies. \u201cIt would have cost the party and the country a huge amount of money. They would have had to endlessly campaign for that, while also trying to campaign for the local elections in May,\u201d Peter says.<\/p>\n

    On the flip side are Labour\u2019s and Keir Starmer\u2019s dire polling. \u201cBurnham\u2019s got this burning personal ambition, but some of the people backing him think it\u2019s not just about having a different person in No 10 \u2013 it\u2019s about having someone who they genuinely believe has got more of a vision, of a message, more of a charismatic approach, which could turn the polls around,\u201d Peter says.<\/p>\n

    There is an argument that this leadership challenge is different from the political musical chairs we saw with the Conservatives. \u201cBack then, they were switching between PMs because people were out of favour, they were Boris fans or Rishi fans or Liz fans,\u201d Peter says. \u201cPeople in Labour argue there is more to it this time. They see where Labour are in the polls, they see where their polls are going, and they\u2019re getting scared \u2013 not just for their own seats \u2013 but about what a Reform government could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n

    A three-way race<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Peter believes Burnham\u2019s \u201cstar power would have been enough\u201d to hold the Gorton and Denton seat for Labour. Burnham has said as much, posting on social media on Sunday that the party would now lose the byelection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The contest will be a tough one. \u201cAndrew Gwynne\u2019s majority in the last election was about 13,400, which you would think would be enough to hold. But you\u2019ve got Reform, who will go for it. You\u2019ve got the Greens, with a very good local candidate who\u2019s likely to stand and is well known,\u201d Peter says.<\/p>\n

    The Greens have been bullish about their chances. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough ask, but it\u2019s possible they could take enough votes away from Labour for Reform to sneak in and win the seat,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s really bad for Starmer. It makes him look as if he\u2019s made this factional decision based on personal reasons to protect his own position and lost his party a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

    For now, Burnham waits. If Labour loses Denton and Gorton, pressure will grow to give him the next available seat, Peter says. He isn\u2019t alone in thinking this. Tom Watson, the former Labour deputy leader, predicted that Andy Burnham will become an MP \u201csooner rather than later\u201d, in a Substack essay published yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    But when and where is important. Running in a byelection and losing could spell the end of Burnham\u2019s career, Peter says.<\/p>\n

    As for Starmer, plenty of dangers lie ahead: he is going to China this week, he has to keep Trump on a leash, and he has to maintain support for Ukraine, all while keeping the domestic news focused on the cost of living.<\/p>\n

    \u201cNo 10\u2019s argument is that the only way we can beat Reform UK is by making people feel that their daily lives are getting better,\u201d Peter says. \u201cSo schools are better, hospitals are better, people have more money in their pocket. And anything that doesn\u2019t do that is taking away the party\u2019s central message.\u201d<\/p>\n

    But the local election is looming and there are threats from all sides. In Wales, Labour is forecast to do \u201cvery, very badly\u201d, Peter says. In England, councils that have been Labour \u201csince the dawn of time\u201d are under threat. In London, Reform could take outer boroughs, while the Greens eye inner ones.<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

    A red wedding is coming. Time will tell whether Burnham or Starmer is the unfortunate groom.<\/p>\n

    What else we\u2019ve been reading<\/h2>\n
    <\/svg><\/span>Strong v swole \u2026 traditional bodybuilding advice has been to push workouts to the point of failure.<\/span> Composite: Guardian Design; Husam Cakaloglu; SciePro; Bogdan Nicolaescu\/Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n