Andy Burnham warns of by-election loss after Labour blocks him from standing

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Andy Burnham has warned that Labor will lose the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton after the party banned the Mayor of Greater Manchester from standing as its candidate.

A committee of Labour’s National Executive Committee on Sunday banned Burnham from running in the Manchester constituency, angering many MPs.

The party leadership said Labor could not afford to campaign for the by-election and compete for a new mayor of Manchester at a time when crucial elections loomed in Scotland, Wales and the English councils on May 7.

But several Labor members suggested the machinations were primarily designed to stop speculation about Burnham being replaced by Sir Keir Starmer as Labor leader if he returned to the Commons.

The Prime Minister said on Monday that Burnham was doing a “fantastic job” as mayor of Manchester, but allowing him to run for the Westminster seat would “divert our resources” from Labour’s other election campaigns.

Tom Baldwin, Starmer’s biographer, said on Channel X that Burnham’s return to Westminster would add to the party’s “internal psychodrama”.

But Burnham responded: “I’m not sure losing the by-election would do us any good.”

The Labor Party faces a difficult battle with the British Reform Party and the Green Party for the seat of Gorton and Denton, as former MP Andrew Gwynn resigned for health reasons after a scandal.

Douglas Alexander, the Scottish minister, said on Monday morning that Burnham had indicated “very clearly his ambition to lead the Labor Party into the future” and it was important for his colleagues to focus on the May election.

“There would have been probably three months, in my opinion, of psychodrama, who’s up, who’s down, who’s dealing with who, who’s against whom, would that have been in Labour’s interests? Frankly, I don’t think it would have been possible,” Alexander told Times Radio.

On Monday morning, Burnham attended the launch of a report on Breaking the Roof in the Arts Classroom in Manchester, where he received a warm reception.

He joked that the public might have been trying to “run away from me” after the weekend’s drama, and later told reporters he would make no further comment on Labour’s decision.

The 10-member NEC voted eight to one against Burnham’s return, with only Vice Chair Lucy Powell supporting him. Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood, head of the National Elections Commission – herself another potential future leader – abstained from voting. Starmer was one of those who voted ‘no’, according to members.

Burnham, who was an MP and Labor leadership candidate before becoming Mayor of Manchester in 2017, has become increasingly critical of Starmer as the Prime Minister’s approval ratings decline in opinion polls.

On Sunday, he criticized the way the media had been told about the NEC ruling before he did so, saying it “tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labor Party is run these days. You would think that more than 30 years of service would matter, but unfortunately it doesn’t.”

A letter to the Prime Minister objecting to the NEC’s decision was circulated among Labor MPs on Monday, and is expected to be signed by dozens.

“Banning the only senior Labor politician with a net positive popularity rating…puts petty factional maneuvering and personal score-settling above winning an election,” Nadia Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, told the BBC on Monday.

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, criticized the way in which “10 people on a Zoom call” blocked Burnham. “If we were to exclude people from running because they have ambitions for a higher office to serve in this country, I fear the seats would be virtually empty.”

Graham Stringer, MP for Blakely and Middleton South, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “I don’t think bureaucratic methods should be used to stop candidates,” he said. “It leads to discontent, it leads to anger and divisions within the party, which works its way through the system and no good comes of it.”