Andy Burnham’s recent win in the Makerfield parliamentary by-election (special election) on Thursday sets the stage for a leadership challenge within Britain’s governing Labour Party, which could oust Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: After winning the Makerfield parliamentary by-election (special election) on Thursday, outgoing Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is likely to challenge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for the leadership of the Labour Party and, by extension, the British government. Burnham is returning to Parliament after serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester for nine years, having previously stood for the Labour leadership in 2010 and 2015, unsuccessfully. 📰 DETAIL: On Friday, following Burnham’s victory in Makerfield, speculation turned to his expected leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. While Burnham has not officially declared a challenge yet, it is all but confirmed that the Mayor of Greater Manchester will move to oust Starmer or enter a party leadership contest once someone else does. Burnham needs the support of 20 percent of Labour’s parliamentary party, currently 81 Members of Parliament (MPs), and at least five percent of local party branches or at least three party-affiliated groups, including two unions, to trigger a leadership contest. However, Burnham’s team reportedly hopes to avoid a contentious leadership battle, with Starmer stepping aside willingly. Despite his widespread unpopularity and his party’s tanking approval ratings, the incumbent has refused to step aside and announced that he will fight any leadership contest, although he may reverse his position if the scale of internal opposition to his continuing in post is overwhelming. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “I would hope that Andy and the Prime Minister can speak over the coming days. We want to avoid a leadership contest if possible.” – Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heely and Burnham ally 🎯 IMPACT: The process to replace Starmer could take just days or several weeks, although events are likely to move quickly after Burnham is sworn in as an MP and Parliament goes into recess next month. Britain’s executive and legislature are blended, with the Prime Minister always being a House of Commons lawmaker in the modern era, technically serving at the invitation of the monarch but, in practice, depending on his ability to command a majority in the House of Commons to stay in post. In practice, this generally means that the Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, and changes to that party’s leadership also lead to a change in Prime Minister. Many recent prime ministers have been installed between elections due to party leadership changes, including Theresa May in 2016, Boris Johnson in 2019, Liz Truss in 2022, and Rishi Sunak later the same year. 👀 FLASHBACK: Burnham took an absolute majority of the vote in the Makerfield by-election with approximately 25,000 votes. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK came in second place, far ahead of the third-placed Restore Britain, a Reform splinter party backed by Elon Musk. Farage chalked up Burnham’s victory to his campaign to change Labor from within, tapping into widespread anti-Starmer sentiment. “What really happened here was, it was vote Burnham, get Starmer out, which, of course, was our campaign message leading up to the [local elections] on May 7, so we were slightly hoisted with our own petard,” he said. |
Image by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
show less
.jpg){kind=link}
