Friday, October 03, 2025
Labour's leadership contest deferred
The Independent reports that a senior minister has stated that Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential candidates for a parliamentary seat, scuppering any potential leadership challenge:
Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential candidates for a parliamentary seat, scuppering any potential leadership challenge, a senior minister has claimed.
The Greater Manchester mayor has been accused privately by allies of “overplaying his hand” in positioning himself as a potential replacement for Sir Keir as leader of the Labour Party.
Despite a YouGov poll of Labour voters suggesting he would be a more popular prime minister than Sir Keir, by 33 points to 28, his hopes that the party conference in Liverpool would be a launchpad for any leadership bid fell flat this week.
He left before Sir Keir’s speech began, claiming he did not want to upstage the prime minister, and even withdrew from a fringe meeting where he was due to share a platform with rebel Labour MPs.
But, even if the groundswell of support had given him momentum, he would need to return to Westminster as an MP via a by-election in order to have a shot at the leadership.
However, knowing the risk and Mr Burnham’s plans, Sir Keir and Mr McSweeney – who control who gets on shortlists for by-election candidates – would act to stop him, it is being speculated.
The minister, who is an ally of Mr Burnham, told The Independent: “Keir and Morgan wouldn’t even let him get on the shortlist to be a candidate. They would block him. There’s no way he’s getting back into parliament.”
But the Manchester mayor’s manoeuvres have exposed discontent among senior figures in the government over whether Sir Keir and his inner circle, including Mr McSweeney, are the right people to beat Reform.
“The problem is that we are being run by technocrats when we need warriors,” one minister noted.
The elections in May – with the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and London councils all up for grabs – are now being regarded as “the hard deadline” for the prime minister to prove himself, and a bad set of results for Labour could see the prime minister facing serious challenges to his position.
There was also a feeling that politicians from outside the Westminster bubble, who represent regions, are “constantly being told to get back into your box”.
They added: “That breeds resentment, and Andy [Burnham] has very much tapped into that.”
This doesn't mean of course that the threat to Starmer's leadership has gone away. As the anonymous minister says: “Keir needs to be less worried about Andy [Burnham] and this conference and more what might happen to him in June or July next year.”
