Andy Burnham blocked from standing in Gorton and Denton
Andy Burnham has been blocked from standing for selection in the Gorton and Denton by election by the officers group on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
Yesterday, Burnham announced that he had written to the chair of the NEC asking for permission to stand for selection in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Due to a recent rule change Burnham had to seek permission from a select group of 10 NEC officers in order to resign his role as the mayor of Greater Manchester so that he might run in the by-election called after former health minister, Andrew Gwynne, resigned as an MP on health grounds. (The group includes the prime minister Keir Starmer). The deadline to do so was 5pm on Saturday 24 January.
The NEC officers group met at 11am today to decide whether to give Burnham permission to run. The group voted in favour of not allowing him to do so by 8 votes to 1. According to the Times Starmer reportedly voted against, with deputy leader of the Labour Party, Lucy Powell the only member to vote for. Shabana Mahmood, the chair of the NEC, reportedly abstained.
In his letter to Mahmood, Burnham said he would “run a hopeful and unifying campaign, with a broad appeal to voters, focusing on the positivity around what we have achieved, whilst at the same time being honest about the alienation that people feel from politics.”
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Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg this morning, Mahmood said: “It’s not unusual in internal Labour party politics for there to be big rows over selections…people will have their views.” She added: “It’s for the NEC officers to consider the issues in the round. There will be strong views in the room later today. My job is to make sure they’re heard.”
Pressure had been building on Keir Starmer not to block Burnham’s candidacy, including from several members of his own cabinet. Speaking at the Fabian Society’s new year conference on Saturday, Powell, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, all said Burnham should be allowed to run for selection. Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, did the same at the Labour North West conference this morning. Several MPs including Nadia Whittome, Justin Madders, Karl Turner, and Jo White have also publicly said Burnham should be allowed to stand.
Claims of a stitch up by Starmer’s allies on the NEC have already been circulating. As the New Statesman revealed today, members of the wider committee were not told about decisions made by the officers group regarding the timetable for applications for the selection and had to find out via media reports. Others have complained that a decision on Burnham’s candidacy should have been made by the full NEC, not just the select group of 10 officers.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg this morning, Mahmood said: “On lots of these decisions which are usually made by NEC officers not always the full national executive committee, it is not unusual for some members of the full national executive to say we think this decision should be made here, rather than by officers. For selections it is very normal practice…for selections to be done by NEC officers”.
This decision is likely to send shockwaves through the Labour Party, after a series of MPs and cabinet ministers had urged Starmer not to block Burnham’s candidacy. Labour will still need to choose a candidate for the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election, and is likely to face tough opposition from the Green Party and Reform in the eventual vote. Both parties are reportedly considering standing high-profile candidates: Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Reform head of policy Zia Yusuf are both rumoured candidates. Starmer may have dodged a potential challenge to his leadership from Burnham by blocking his candidacy, but his future as prime minister is not yet in the clear. This decision is unlikely to have calmed his critics; it may even have galvanised them.
[Further reading: Andy Burnham’s people]
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