‘He Swept CLEAN!’ | Andy Burnham Victory Puts Huge Pressure On Keir Starmer

[00:00:00]Let's get on with getting on, shall we?

[00:00:01]We're joined by the brilliant, the gorgeous, the fantastic Samara Gelt. She is, of course, up in Makerfield. How are you doing, Samara?

[00:00:10]>> Hi, Alex. I've been waiting for that monologue all night, actually. Uh it's a you're totally right. Oh, there's a See, there's a Reform voter right behind me.

[00:00:19]He was just uh telling me off camera how he would have voted Reform and uh and everything like that. So, yeah, they do they do There is support here for Reform, and you're right. I think I also spoke to a Restore voter this morning.

[00:00:34]Um he was disenfranchised with Nigel because of a lot of the news that had come out about him before this by-election. So, you're right. There is a real divide on the right-hand side about the way that people are voting.

[00:00:47]And you know, there there we don't have we, I say as someone who's a Conservative, we don't have the same sort of inclination to mobilize and unite that the left does. They You're completely right. They used massive levels of tactical voting. The Greens barely picked up any votes, so did the Lib Dems. And uh Burnham swept clean.

[00:01:07]>> It looks a bit for Makerfield, anyway.

[00:01:09]Of course, there's another by-election up in Scotland, but it looks for Makerfield very much like two-party politics, very much like the traditional binary choice, which once upon a time was the Labour Party and the Conservatives, but now appears to be the Labour Party versus Reform. Is that the feeling that you're getting?

[00:01:28]>> Absolutely. I think, you know, picking up 35% of the vote for a party that started just 18 months ago is pretty impressive. It was Plumber versus King.

[00:01:37]There's no doubt about it. We had two very different candidates. One in Andy Burnham that, in my opinion, was really posing as the everyman, but unfortunately, he has had He worked in the Blair government, you know, it's it's not ex- It's a rebrand of the center, I have to say, politically. And everyone's fallen for it. A A of people that I've spoken to uh think that Burnham is the man next door. Uh Let's talk now to Derek. Derek, did you vote in the the election this >> I didn't vote in the election um simply because I was too busy working and and that you know >> What do you work as in in Wigan?

[00:02:14]>> I work for being at work as a driver.

[00:02:17]We obviously work in the greater Manchester area.

[00:02:20]And I enjoy it's a good job but um I'm quite happy with Andy Burnham because he's we've just got a good pay rise and in fact the drivers saying it's the best pay rise you've ever seen.

[00:02:32]Drivers >> Burnham gave you a pay rise?

[00:02:33]>> Yeah well Burnham being at work is Andy Burnham's sort of babe and he's obviously involved with T T F G M which is the travel for greater Manchester.

[00:02:43]And you know through through Andy Burnham we was through the we we was obviously wanting a pay rise in line with everybody else and um Andy Burnham he's sort of you know I you know he's had something to do with it to help us to get that pay rise but it it's it's a nice it's a great deal it's a it's for the next 3 years and it you know it goes up every year and I think without Andy Burnham's input I don't think we would we would have got that that kind of deal what we wanted but there's been drivers for >> Starmer though, why do people hate him?

[00:03:18]>> Because >> Same party two men.

[00:03:20]>> Everybody I haven't met anyone who has a good word for for Starmer anyone anywhere.

[00:03:26]And I think it's because he's he's a I don't know he doesn't seem like he he's he tells the truth or he's he you know people have different reasons why they hate Starmer.

[00:03:41]I mean I don't know I know a little bit but I don't know as much as other people know but from the people I speak to you know from business and you know I was in business for myself for quite a while before I you know, work for B Network.

[00:03:59]But I haven't found you know, talked to one person who has a good word for him.

[00:04:02]>> Derek, just lastly, restore and reform, they didn't appeal to you?

[00:04:07]>> To be honest, I'm I'm not really know enough about reform. To to basically give a good comment. But I think to be honest, um you can't do worse than what Labour's done in all the last couple of years.

[00:04:22]>> But you like you just voted for or you wanted to vote for someone who's in Labour?

[00:04:26]>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, like you say, I have I have a reason why I'm glad he's you know, he's obviously won the this local election, but the reason you know, all the lads you know, I saw him favor him now is cuz he's helped us to get a better living really, a better a rise which gives us a better living, you know.

[00:04:44]>> Fair enough. There you go, Derek. No, I get you. A vote for Andy was a vote for a change in the Labour Party. That's kind of how he sold it to people and and that's what those people have responded to.

[00:04:54]>> are you know, peo- I think there's people a lot of people like you say have their own reasons why they voted for Andy. And but for me, you know, I I don't know enough about him, but I do know him obviously he's involved with B Network and and he's been great for us.

[00:05:10]He's been great for B Network and he's also involved with Northern which is you know, the the rail the local trains in the greater Manchester. He wants to integrate the B Network trains. We have do have a couple of B Network trains now into the B Network buses and you know, >> Yeah, it has been massively successful the B Network buses that yeah, that has been brilliant. Well, thank you so much.

[00:05:33]Really appreciate your input. And there you go, it's great to talk to someone you know, common sense, likes Burnham, likes what he's done for the people up north and there you go.

[00:05:43]Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?

[00:05:44]Listening to Derek there. There's a clear distinction I think, between people in Wakefield who have voted for Andy Burnham to get rid of Starmer, rather than voting for the Labour Party.

[00:05:55]And I think a lot of their campaign material seemed to just have Andy with a cartoon face on it, barely mentioning the fact that he was connected to the Labour Party. But, what did you make of some of the other campaigning tactics in Wakefield?

[00:06:07]The whole world seemed to turn up in that one constituency. And And there were all sorts of, you know, mad things going on.

[00:06:17]>> Absolutely. You know, there were even journalists from Japan in the spin room last night. That's how international this has gone, not to mention American journalists, even some from Australia that had dropped by to report on this by-election. So, that shows you just how crazy it was. But, you're right about the campaigning tactics. You know, 98% of Facebook ads for Andy Burnham's campaign did not contain the word Labour. And that was a very intentional choice by his team to make sure that they separated brand Andy from brand Labour, which is in the absolute toilet at the moment. But, Andy's on the up and up. I think there were some really aggressive tactics used by Restore Britain. I mean, that Muslims for Reform bus, which is some sort of sick stunt that they pulled, or at least Young Bob said that they pulled, and then he took the He took the post down and made this big apology, along with all the flyers. I mean, why are they trying to cannibalize themselves? Why are they coming for those that have the same intentions?

[00:07:19]It's a very important question to ask because the Conservatives didn't really mention Restore Britain once in their campaigning. There's lots of questions we have to say and think about. You know, why was this played in such a way, Alex?

[00:07:34]>> It's with a lot of questions that need answering in in due course. That is for certain. Whether we'll ever get the answers, I do not know. Finally, Samara, though, Keir Starmer has said he will stand in a Labour leadership contest should one be triggered by Andy Burnham.

[00:07:49]I don't know why they're playing this game, quite frankly. Well, there's not actually a leadership contest. This is all hypothetical. Why do you think Burnham just stood? Um but, I mean, this is it now. I guess over the weekend you and I are going to be pretty busy.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah, massively. Look, Burnham will not be as uh popular and powerful as he is today ever. This is the height of uh sort of his reign, and this is definitely the height of in the opinion polls of how well he'll do. So, if I were him, yeah, I would be triggering that leadership contest and trying to get uh the Labour leadership. But, let's just see. I mean, I I don't think he should wait, but then again, Keir Starmer is sticking in there. It's not like he's going to resign. I think if this was the Conservative Party, uh Keir Starmer would have already resigned in the morning uh but seeing this resounding win and this resounding rejection of his particular Labour Party. So, I think I I do think that will be a leadership contest triggered, but I also don't think it's going to be an easy road. There are many people that are in the way, and Andy Burnham, of course, has challenged the leadership Labour leadership twice and lost, once to Jeremy Corbyn. So, it's not been easy for the man, but it probably is going to be now with this stonking majority.

[00:09:01]>> Well, yes. I mean, frankly, the wisest thing Starmer could do, frankly, is to just step down because we all know how ugly leadership contests get, and it always leaves a bad taste in the electorate's mouth. The Conservatives can tell you that. Samara, fantastic reporting, as always. Thank you so much for doing the all-nighter and being there for us from breakfast and throughout the day. She's a real powerhouse, isn't she, that one?

[00:09:42]>> Mhm.