Starmer blocking Burnham shows he will sacrifice an MP, a constituent, his party, the country, to keep his job
The King of the North wanted a return to Westminster despite answers on the grooming gangs still outstanding. But Starmer? He’s terrified and will betray Labour and the country to keep his job.
If you wanted a front-row seat to a political car crash, look no further than the Labour Party this morning. In a move that stinks of desperation and authoritarian panic, Keir Starmer’s inner circle has officially blocked Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
A Prime Minister haunted by his own unpopularity
Let’s call this what it is, a desperate purge to save his own skin. Starmer is currently polling as the most unpopular Prime Minister in modern UK history. His government has brought nothing but higher taxes, energy crises, unemployment, higher inflation, council tax increases, propaganda, lies and a palpable sense of drift towards an dictatorship.
He knows that if Andy Burnham, a man with actual charisma and a power base outside the Westminster bubble, steps foot back in the House of Commons, the clock starts ticking on Starmer’s leadership.
The excuse from the National Executive Committee (NEC) is laughable. They claim they blocked Burnham to avoid the cost and resource drain of a mayoral by-election. Since when has the Labour Party ever cared about saving taxpayers’ money? This isn’t about the cost of a ballot box, it’s about the cost of Keir Starmer’s career.
There will be blood, say MPs
The reaction from within Labour has been nothing short of nuclear. Even his own Cabinet is split, with heavyweights like Ed Miliband and Deputy Leader Lucy Powell reportedly backing Burnham’s right to stand. Veteran left-winger John McDonnell didn’t mince words, calling the decision ‘disgusting’ and ‘cowardly,’ warning that it will hasten the demise of Starmer’s leadership.
When your own MPs are using phrases like “there will be blood,” you know the unity Starmer promised to bring into politics was a total sham. The Labour Party isn’t a government, it’s a socialist firing squad.
Starmer prefers to loose that risk his job
The ultimate irony here is that by blocking their most popular regional figure, Labour is opening the door even more for Nigel Farage and Reform. Analysis suggests that without a big hitter like Burnham, Gorton and Denton which is a seat Labour should win in its sleep is now a genuine battleground and danger of loosing. Starmer is so frightened of a leadership challenge that he is willing to risk losing a seat to Reform or the Greens just to keep a rival off the green benches.
Starmer is unbelievably weak
This is the behaviour of a weak treacherous leader. By slamming the door on Burnham, Starmer has confirmed three things:
He knows he is failing and his support base is crumbling.
He is more interested in keeping his own job, than that of an MP or a constituency and the will of the voters
His ‘country first’ narrative is a lie and propaganda, its Keir first every time.
The Stalinist control of the Starmer regime has reached it’s tipping point. They might have kept Burnham out of Westminster for today, but they’ve lit a fuse under the party that they won’t be able to put out.
The Labour Civil War is only just starting.