[Tubby Isaacs]

He's been blocked.

I think this is a mistake. But it's clearly not just some hardcore of "Starmer loyalist" who's annoyed with Burnham.

[Samanfur]

Apparently the vote was 9-1 against Burnham, with Lucy Powell the sole vote in favour.

Shabana Mahmood abstained.

Routine, as she was chairing the meeting.

Cheers. I wasn't aware.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Another by-election win for Reform in a safe Labour seat, one presumes. Unless Polanski makes an arse of himself in the campaign, or they select someone else who does.

[Youngian]

Polanski will stand and will praise Mayor Burnham's leadership as a Mancunian who puts the good of his city above petty tribal politics.

[Samanfur]

Statement from the NEC.

[The Weeping Angel]

He may not.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't think he'll stand himself. His recent brainfarts on NATO have attracted too much criticism, and there's already a Green with a bit of a local profile. Melanie Earp (nee Horrocks).

[The Weeping Angel]

Confirmed.

[davidjay]

He's not going to risk losing, which he would. The Greens have been building a fair head of steam lately and coming a distant third in a by-election will endanger that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Provided he doesn't make an arse of himself, he's on a win-win. The rules seem to be that he can say what he likes about Starmer, but Starmer saying anything back at him is completely unfair because that's "siding with Farage". I hope Starmer gives it both barrels to Polanski and Farage on security.

I already feel sorry for the Labour candidate. It'll likely be someone with a solid local record, but they'll just get called "Starmer's poodle" whatever they've done locally. There's also a not very pleasant bunch of media people on hand to make out that by-election candidates for the big two parties are the worst ever. Sometimes, like Maria Hutchings in Eastleigh for the Tories, there's something in that, but often they just get buried under antipathy to national politicians.

[Tubby Isaacs]

others in the party condemned the decision as paranoid and unlikely to shore up Starmer’s position.

“No 10 have chosen factionalism over what is in Keir’s interest,” one Labour source said. “What on earth is their plan if we lose the byelection and Wes [Streeting] goes for it?”

I have no idea what the logic of this is.

Streeting can "go for it" any time he wants. This doesn't depend on the presence or absence of Andy Burnham in the PLP. One thing Burnham can do, inside or outside the PLP, is immediately tell Streeting to stop pissing about.

[davidjay]

From memory, Burnham was the epitome of Blairism. Now he's the Left's great hope. Hmmm.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Health policy in the 2010 manifesto was very much in favour of using private health, not just for waiting lists. As he was the Health Secretary, it's reasonable to suggest he had considerable input to it. That may or may not be good (I'm not the biggest NHS die hard around) but it's not a million miles away from Starmer/ Streeting/ Alan Milburn/ Streeting's Dodgy Donors and all the rest of it.

[Youngian]

What's Polanski's route to parliament if he doesn't fancy his chances in a by-election against a Labour stitch-up candidate in his home city?

[Youngian]

From memory, Burnham was the epitome of Blairism. Now he's the Left's great hope. Hmmm.

Burnham was the first minister to address the growing problem of funding elderly social care and wasn't afraid to back Theresa May when she raised it. May paid a high electoral price when Corbyn era Labour campaigned on opposing 'death taxes' (a US Republican slogan).

[Tubby Isaacs]

What's Polanski's route to parliament if he doesn't fancy his chances in a by-election against a Labour stitch-up candidate in his home city?

Somewhere more similar to Brighton.

[Oboogie]

From memory, Burnham was the epitome of Blairism. Now he's the Left's great hope. Hmmm.

The charge sheet includes*:
Served in Blair's government. = Nazi
Voted for Iraq = war criminal
Privatised the NHS = Tory
Member of Labour Friends of Israel = supports genocide

*according to Zarah Sultana

[Malcolm Armsteen]

others in the party condemned the decision as paranoid and unlikely to shore up Starmer’s position.

“No 10 have chosen factionalism over what is in Keir’s interest,” one Labour source said. “What on earth is their plan if we lose the byelection and Wes [Streeting] goes for it?”

I have no idea what the logic of this is.

Streeting can "go for it" any time he wants. This doesn't depend on the presence or absence of Andy Burnham in the PLP. One thing Burnham can do, inside or outside the PLP, is immediately tell Streeting to stop pissing about.

It wasn't 'No 10' it was the NEC...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Indeed. And clearly not all of them are people concerned only with Starmer's welfare.

[Abernathy]

I already feel sorry for the Labour candidate. It'll likely be someone with a solid local record, but they'll just get called "Starmer's poodle" whatever they've done locally.

And if the candidate were to be Burnham, you can bet your bollocks that the whole by-election campaign would be dominated by the question of Burnham’s leadership ambitions - whether Burnham wanted it to be or not.

I do find it fairly galling that the news coverage of this has been focused exclusively on a “Burnham’s after Starmer’s job” narrative. We sometimes forget the costs that political parties (and local authorities) have to meet when a by-election for a post like Greater Manchester mayor has to be held - for Manchester it’s estimated to be north of 5 million quid - and the Labour Party’s governing body is obliged to consider the cost of indulging an incumbent Metro Mayor leaving his post two years early to try to contest a parliamentary by-election. It’s literally the entire reason that the rule requiring incumbent mayors to obtain permission from the NEC exists.

Granted, Burnham has done himself no favours by declaring publicly that he really is after Keir Starmer’s job, but that really isn’t the whole story. The NEC vote was pretty emphatic with 8 to 1 NEC members voting to deny Burnham’s request, and that really ought to be the end of it. But it won’t be. And that is galling.

In the meantime, arseholes like Karl Turner can just fuck right off.