The Labour party’s civil war over the Gorton and Denton byelection has intensified after Andy Burnham accused Downing Street sources of lying about his decision to apply to stand in the Manchester seat.
The Manchester mayor was reacting to suggestions by unnamed Keir Starmer allies that he had been told “in no uncertain terms” that any request to the NEC committee to put his name forward for the byelection would be refused.
Responding to a post on X by ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, which suggested sources close to the PM therefore saw Burnham’s move to stand as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer, Burnham wrote: “This is simply untrue.” Peston then sent a follow-up message saying a second source had backed up Burnham’s version of events, adding that Burnham was “seeking an urgent call with No 10 about the briefing”.
A No 10 spokesperson said it was not true that anyone close to Starmer had told Burnham the NEC would refuse his application. They said: “No one in No 10 told Andy Burnham not to apply to the NEC for permission to stand or gave any indication to him which sought to prejudge the NEC officers’ deliberation or decision.”
Burnham later told ITV News that he had spent “the whole weekend having conversations with people in No 10, people in senior positions in the party, to discuss the pros and cons” but he had not been told his application would be blocked. “The NEC is meant to be an independent body, so how could somebody say it’s definitely going to be blocked if they are an independent body,” he said. “So it doesn’t stack up what they are saying and it’s simply untrue.”
Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, the only person to support Burnham’s case in the NEC vote, which blocked his candidacy on Sunday, made a plea for peace. “The briefings have got to stop,” she told ITV Granada. “We’re one Labour team here. We’ve got one objective in mind, that is to change the country and … we all have to work as one team to do that.”
In a letter to all constituents in Gorton and Denton that will arrive on Wednesday, Powell urges voters not to stay at home, billing the byelection as a straight fight between Labour and Reform. “No one else is in this race, so sitting it out or planning a protest vote will not stop Reform – it will help them,” she writes.
About 50 Labour MPs signed a letter objecting to the decision to block Burnham from standing in the 26 February byelection, telling the prime minister the move was a “real gift” to Reform. YouGov polling released on Tuesday suggests 30% of Britons think Burnham would do a better job as PM than Starmer, and 12% think he would be worse.
Meanwhile, the battle for Gorton and Denton – a seat Labour won with a little over 50% of the vote in 2024 – has begun in earnest. Reform UK unveiled Matthew Goodwin, a hard-right activist who has previously claimed that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British, as the party’s candidate in the demographically diverse seat in south-east Manchester. Powell said the choice of Goodwin showed Reform were offering “division, animosity and hatred”.
Reform UK was earlier mocked by rival MPs, after one of the party’s MPs, Lee Anderson, posted a picture on social media of himself and activists campaigning for the seat in the wrong constituency.
Noting that Anderson was standing outside a hotel in her neighbouring Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner told the Daily Mirror: “Farage’s Reform can’t even find the Gorton and Denton constituency on a map. Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy filling their party full of former Tories who failed the country.”
Speculation about who will contest the seat for Labour continues, with interviews continuing on Tuesday and a selection expected on Saturday. On Monday night, the Labour leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, ruled herself out of the running, while – according to Roch Valley Radio – the leader of Bury council, Eamonn O’Brien, had applied to be selected.
As well as a muscular campaign from Reform, Labour will also face competition from a re-energised Green party, with officials arguing they have a real chance of victory after Burnham was barred from the race. Local party members are yet to decide on a candidate, but Hannah Spencer, leader of the Green group on Trafford council, is likely to be in the running.
