Burnham “Change By-election”; Thinly Veiled No 10 Pitch
Andy Burnham formally launched his Makerfield by-election campaign in Ashton-in-Makerfield on Friday with what the Guardian described as “a barely coded pitch for Downing Street”, saying a vote for him would be “a vote to change Labour”. Burnham: “This is a change by-election. British politics needs to change its tired old script.” And: “I’m prepared to take that fight as high as I can go. I want to play whatever part I can in changing this party back to the party here people used to know.” In a question-and-answer session, Burnham committed for the first time to a specific electoral-reform pledge: he would want a commitment in the next Labour manifesto to introduce a proportional voting system.
Asked if a vote for him would effectively mean a vote to remove Sir Keir Starmer, Burnham told reporters: “No, it’s not, because this is a by-election, and that’s what this contest is about, and those issues are issues for another time, and they are issues for members of parliament.” Asked if he would want Sir Keir to campaign locally for him, Burnham dodged: “Anyone who agrees with me would be welcome.” The Guardian frames Burnham’s hoped-for return to Westminster, facilitated after Labour MP Josh Simons gave up the seat, as “likely to be followed by a challenge to Starmer, or moves to push him into stepping down, an idea Burnham did nothing to dispel”.