Keir Starmer, the current leader of the Labour Party, left 10 Downing Street on Wednesday to take part in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). As he made his way to the House of Commons, he was met with a barrage of questions from reporters about the state of the party and his leadership. But it was not just the media that was keeping a close eye on Starmer, as his fellow Labour leadership hopefuls were also closely watching his every move.
One of these hopefuls, Andy Burnham, was spotted eating a salad in the window of a Westminster branch of Pret A Manger this week. This caused some passers-by to double check if it really was the man who professes to hate SW1 (the postcode for Westminster) so much. Burnham’s presence in the heart of Westminster raised eyebrows and sparked speculation about his ambitions for the party’s leadership.
But Burnham is not the only Labour leadership contender with a lot to chew on as Christmas approaches. In fact, it seems that every MP in the party is already looking towards the future and the inevitable challenge that Starmer will face in 2026. The only question is whether this challenge will come before or immediately after the local elections in May.
Despite the government’s seeming determination to cancel as many English council votes as they can next year, the prime minister’s reckoning with the electorate is coming one way or another. A recent poll showed that in Wales, where Labour has ruled for a century, the party’s support is a paltry 10%, miles behind both Plaid Cymru and Reform UK. And while the party’s prospects at the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections are not as grim, there is still no chance of them forming the next government at Holyrood.
This dismal outlook for the Labour Party has not gone unnoticed by the opposition. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn could not resist asking Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday how he plans to spend his final Christmas in 10 Downing Street. Even the PM himself admitted on Monday, only half-jokingly, that speculation about who the next Labour leader will be is “pretty rife” at Westminster.
Some of the party’s more pessimistic MPs believe that it is largely irrelevant who is in charge when the next general election rolls around. One MP told HuffPost UK: “Burnham is probably the best chance we’ve got with the electorate, but even then I think we’ve already messed it up, to be honest. We’ve done the same thing Nick Clegg did with tuition fees.”
For those who may not remember, the former Lib Dem deputy PM never recovered from his decision to ditch his party’s opposition to tuition fees, instead ordering his MPs to vote to treble them from £3,000 to £9,000 a year. But compared to Starmer, Clegg was something of an amateur when it came to annoying the electorate.
The current PM and his government have appeared laser-focused on developing policies seemingly designed to make them ever more unpopular. From scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners to cutting disability benefits and introducing the family farm tax, the government’s actions have only served to alienate various demographics and groups. This has led to criticism from within the Labour Party itself, with one MP on the left saying: “The trouble with this government is they aren’t building any alliances with any demographics or groups. They’re just pissing everyone off all the time.”
But there is one Labour leadership hopeful who knows how to build alliances and has a proven track record of doing so. Andy Burnham, the current mayor of Manchester, has been praised for his leadership during the pandemic and his ability to bring people together. As one MP put it: “Andy Burnham knows how to build alliances. Just look at what he’s done as mayor of Manchester.”
Aside from Burnham, other potential leadership contenders include the painfully ambitious Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner. Both of them would have little problem getting the 80 MP nominations they would need to run. The main advantage they have over Burnham at this stage is that, unlike him, they are already MPs.
But Team Andy is not giving up without a fight. They are actively looking for a vacant and winnable seat where Burnham can run in a by-election. However, there is no guarantee that he will make it back to Westminster in time to throw his hat into the ring.
A Burnham supporter said: “Andy needs to
