Burnham's Leadership Bid: Will He Defeat Keir Starmer?

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]All people, it's certainly been nothing short of a tumultuous week in Westminster.

[00:00:08]Quiet following a wholesale rejection in the local elections. The knives have been out for Kia Starmer, who canvases say was the main thing that caused voters to move away from Labour last Thursday.

[00:00:21]Since then, more than 80 MPs signed a letter calling for the prime minister's resignation, and four ministers, including Jess Stab in the front, Phillips, have already stood down.

[00:00:32]Following a tense few days, there was a sense of expectation in the air this morning with health secretary Wes Streeting rumored to be on the verge of announcing a leadership challenge and hoping to garner the 81 signatures that he'd need to trigger an official move to usurp Star.

[00:00:47]>> You want to see if I've got the minions?

[00:00:51]Well, it actually turns out that he doesn't. Then >> shut up, Wesley.

[00:00:55]>> Withdrawing at the last moment as backbencher Katherine West had done so on Monday following her threat to launch a bid over the weekend.

[00:01:03]>> What's the matter, Colonel Sanders?

[00:01:05]Chicken.

[00:01:06]>> Perhaps he did have intentions of making a stand before he saw this poll that predicts that under his leadership, you'd be able to literally count the number of MPs that they have on one hand.

[00:01:22]At the same time, Angela Raina came out this morning hinting at making a challenge herself in a statement where she declared that the fiasco over her unpaid stunt duty on her second home was now resolved and that HMRC have closed the case against her. In fact, until this afternoon, she was actually the favorite at the bookies to be the next person to take up residence in number 10. But then this afternoon, out of the blue, with all eyes on the cabinet, there was a sensational announcement from um Josh Simons.

[00:01:54]>> A what? What?

[00:01:58]Okay.

[00:02:00]Who's that guy?

[00:02:06]>> Who? What are you aing owl?

[00:02:14]Simons was elected at the last general election and represents Makerfield here in the Northwest. Well, he did represent the seat, but today announced that he would be standing aside to clear the path for no other than Andy Burnham in a move that's now really put the cat amongst the pigeons and has given the mayor of Manchester the shortest odds to lead Labour into the next general election. as you can see here is the only person on the short list of potential successes to have a positive favorability rating at the moment with all of the others seeing their disapproval percentages outweigh the positive. Balance that against the fact that Starmmer still remains the least popular prime minister in history according to polling figures and it seems as though Bernham will have nothing short of an easy path to victory on this occasion and is on course to become the next leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of the UK.

[00:03:07]>> Let's get out of here.

[00:03:10]Close it up. Lights out.

[00:03:14]>> Or is he?

[00:03:17]Huh?

[00:03:19]Bye, John.

[00:03:23]>> Not necessarily. In fact, if you ask me, not very likely at all. I can think of a few reasons why every centrist wet dream might actually find it quite difficult to come out on top. Should a make a field bi-election be the result of this political melodrama that we're seeing unfold before our very eyes.

[00:03:42]Number one, he might not even get to stand at all. Yes, that's right. Not 6 weeks ago, Labour saw their vote share completely plummet by 25% in Gautton and Densen in the bi-election which gripped the nation and saw the Green Party's Hannah Spencer romped a victory with a clear majority. Andy Bernham put in a bid to the NEC to be allowed to contest the seat on behalf of Labour and was soundly rejected. It was known at the time that rather than caring about the residents in the constituency that this was as obvious a career move to charge the prime minister for leadership as you'll ever see until today. That is with the national executive committee being full to the broom with sickantic starites and Bernham's motives remaining the same as they were in Golton and Densson. You can hardly bank on them having a change of heart this time around and allowing him to stand.

[00:04:33]Starman would certainly do everything in his power to see that that doesn't happen and he's hardly likely to lift the man who's the biggest threat to his tenure on the first rung of the ladder to this now broadly open attempt at a coup. You'd probably think that they'd learned their lesson from Golton and Densen in losing that seat that they'd held for decades. But remember, this is Kia Starmer we're talking about here. An absolute careerist who gloats that he's never resigned from any job he's ever held. And despite a series of scandals since he was elected, has now been as stubborn about staying as is physically possible to do so.

[00:05:09]>> Son of a [ __ ] has dug in like an Alabama tick.

[00:05:11]>> Number two, the voters probably won't be okay with this. Now, while Jos Simons has or had, I should say, a majority of around 5,000 in his Makerfield seat, we know from the recent local election results that there's been a crash in the Labor votes all over the country, especially in the Northwest, where we saw huge shifts towards both the Green Party and reform. I'll talk about that more in a moment, but if you put yourself into the shoes of someone who lives there, being essentially treated like a stepping stone for someone's career will probably make you feel somewhat taken for granted. And for Simons to abruptly turn around to his constituents and say, "Hey, I know you voted for me, but you're actually going to get this guy instead will most likely be met with indifference should this move be approved by committee." And you can probably see the people of Wigan expressing those feelings at the ballot yet again. Number three, striking while the iron's cold. I think it says a lot about Andy Bernham's hubris for him to come out and make this challenge just when Labour couldn't sink any lower.

[00:06:15]While that unpopularity might be part of his motivation to make his second move within months for a return to Parliament, his overconfidence in his success is more likely to be outweighed by the scale of resentment that we're witnessing for the party he'd be standing for at the moment. Those who do back him are forgetting that a Labour candidate knocking on their door is one of the last things that they'll want to see right now. There was a massive shift away from the mainstream parties and the affforementioned results in Wigan were one of the strongest indicators of that last week. They lost 22 councilors to reform plc.co.uk/recycletories.

[00:06:51]And while Burnham may have a legitimate personal connection to the area, that's unlikely to create a huge swing back to the red rosettes anywhere in Greater Manchester. Labour have been frozen out.

[00:07:04]>> Even in the city itself, the map has been repainted green. So I think in Burnham's case, he's got to have a pretty big ego to think that he's the golden boy who can completely book these current trends. Manchester has turned its back on Labor probably for good. I certainly wouldn't vote for him or for anybody who appears in a promotion for the Sun newspaper for that matter. He was in Labour Friends of Israel, voted for the illegal invasion of Iraq and backed austerity during his last time as an MP. I think anybody who thinks this is some great genuine socialist who's come to riders of neoliberalism should remind themselves that just because the BBC describe him as center left doesn't make it so. He's a Blairite, the same as Star is. He doesn't want to break the wheel. He wants to give it another spin and see if the dial lands on his name this time. But it won't.

[00:07:57]>> That's about as painful as a bankrupt gets.

[00:08:00]>> I genuinely doubt it. That is. And even if somehow he gets his name onto the ballot, I think we'll be seeing a look on his face that we haven't seen since oh, say around 2015 when those within Labour saw Burnham's true colors and voted for the better option by a country mile instead.

[00:08:17]Jeremy Corbyn 251,000.

[00:08:41]What do you think about this new move against Star? Will Burnham be successful or do you think someone else has a better shot at knocking Keith off of his perch? Let us know in the comments below. As always, your feedback's very welcome. Thanks a lot for watching to the end of the video. If you'd like to help the channel out a bit more, then please check out some of our other content and hit various supportive buttons such as like and subscribe.

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