Andy #Burnham has won the first stage of his battle to be the loser of the #Makerfield by-election. Labour's NEC has allowed him to seek the nomination.
If Burnham is selected, he will be squeezed between Greens & Reform. The Greens are sympathetic to Burnham, but won't clear his path without concessions that Burnham has no power to make.
If Burnham wants to move towards the Greens, he will need Starmer’s approval. But Starmer won't approve.
Burnham is walking into a trap.
@2legged Even aside from the politics, Burnham has a big problem, as I see it, in how funny it'll be if he loses. A sitting Labour MP stepping down to give the seat to Burnham, and Burnham then losing it? Well it's comedy gold.
Most tories will vote tactically for Reform. And people who usually don't vote, and who don't like Reform, will think "one more Reform MP won't make a difference this parliament, so let's vote for them for a laugh."
And there may be enough of them to make a difference.
@JimBliss Yes! Much as I despise ReformUK, the comic potential of an Andy #Burnham defeat is huge. Hype falling flat on its face can be very satisfying. 🤣😅 😈
In tomorrow's #Torygraph, #Matt is having fun with the paradox of the #Makerfield by-election.
@NicelyManifest Andy Burnham is a reheated Blairite. He was at best ineffectual in in his 15 years in Westminster, and flip-flopped ideologically.
Oop North, his party trick has been consensus-building, which he has done well. He has been a good Mayor.
But these metro Mayors have v limited power. Prime Minister is a v different job: several orders of magnitude more pressure, infinitely bigger canvass, and no chance of consensus.
I think this is a case of the Peter Principle.
@2legged Many thanks Clare! Much appreciated. As ever, the media paint a thin picture. And seems he promotes a whiter than white persona.
Our species needs to sit a long time to rethink how to handle management of large groups of humans. Clearly moving from our historical smaller groups to larger ones trigger all sorts of misbehaviours.
@NicelyManifest No prob! Lots of people make that error, and it's no biggie. But itbis very kind oif you to apologise. ❤️
Haha, @NicelyManifest. it's weird what people do with names.
It's my the approach to my surname that puzzles me. Just 5 letters, the shortest possible spelling to make the 2 -syllable sound. Yet people manage to create variations witth up to ten letters. Some even add an extra syllable.
Claire McNab
Jim Bliss
Neil Moffatt