Starmer has ‘absolutely no authority’, says Labour peer as pressure grows on PM to step aside for Burnham – UK politics live

From 18m agoLabour peer Charlie Falconer said Keir Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Andy Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.Charlie Falconer speaking in the House of Lords in April.

Photograph: House of Lords/UK Parliament/PAKey events18m agoStarmer has 'absolutely no authority,' says Labour peer46m agoBurnham has shown he can beat Reform and deserves chance to make his case for leadership, says Phillips1h agoWhat will ‘change’ look like if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister?2h agoStarmer under pressure to agree to a timetable to relinquish powerReform UK is examining whether sexist comments by its candidate in the Makerfield byelection may have harmed the party’s chances, after Nigel Farage accepted the result had disappointed him.The party’s examination of its defeat comes after Andy Burnham won 55% of the vote share in a poll that Reform hoped would be a tightly fought battle between the Labour leadership hopeful and its own candidate, Robert Kenyon, a local plumber.

Canvassers from different parties reported that voters highlighted sexist and lewd social media posts by Kenyon, which emerged during the campaign, with women in particular saying they were put off by them.After Kenyon came more than 9,000 votes behind Burnham in Thursday’s vote, one Reform activist said the party had advised the candidate not to apologise for the comments. “That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised,” they said.

Read more:Reform investigates whether Makerfield candidate’s sexist posts were costlyRead moreWhen asked whether Starmer should compete in a leadership competition, Falconer said: “My advice, sadly, would be: don’t stand.“The reason it would be ‘don’t stand’ is because if you stand, it is likely there would then be a difficult leadership battle in which the two leadership candidates would try to undermine each other.“That would be bad for the country.”

Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Keir Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Andy Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.View image in fullscreenCharlie Falconer speaking in the House of Lords in April.

Photograph: House of Lords/UK Parliament/PABeccy Cooper, Labour MP for Worthing West backing Andy Burnham, said he is “not the messiah” and insisted that “this doesn’t rest just on one person”.Speaking to Times Radio, she argued that a Burnham-led government would “still be a Labour government” and would stick to the party’s manifesto because “that’s what people voted for”.She said a leadership contest involving Keir Starmer “is not actually going to benefit our country or the party in the long term”, while adding that she does not “necessarily want a coronation” for Burnham and would like a new leader in place before the Labour conference in September.

Jess Phillips, who quit as safeguarding minister last month, said Andy Burnham has “proved his hypothesis” that he could beat Reform in a constituency where many expected Reform to do very well.“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour party.”

Birmingham Yardley MP, who previously backed Wes Streeting for the leadership position, said she was looking forward to Burnham arriving in Westminster on Monday and seeing prospective candidates of a leadership contest “setting out their stall”.But she added: “It would be much better if this wasn’t protracted and didn’t go on for a long time.”View image in fullscreenJess Phillips during a reception at St James’s Palace, London, to mark International Women’s Day in March.

Photograph: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.‘Within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it’: illustrator on his ubiquitous image of Andy BurnhamView image in fullscreenAndy Burnham supporters celebrating at Ashton Town FC on the morning of his Makerfield byelection win. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianIt was shortly after Andy Burnham’s famously rousing speech outside the Manchester Central Library in October 2020 that Stanley Chow decided to draw him.

Or rather his wife did.“It was the pandemic and we were all so down in the dumps at that point,” says the illustrator, speaking from his home in the city this week. But I rememb