Oh dear. The long-running feud between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham has blown up again this weekend, this time over a row about the decision to block a sitting mayor from standing for a new role in the North East. Jamie Driscoll, the serving North of Tyne mayor, revealed on Friday that he has been ‘barred’ by the Starmer army from running as the Labour candidate to contest the North East mayoralty but that ‘no explanation has been given’. Talk about bad manners…
Driscoll, who has been described as the ‘last Corbynista in power’, was not included on a long list to be the next North East mayor – a new role that was created as part of a £1.4 billion devolution deal for the region. Driscoll’s candidacy was refused because he recently appeared at an event with the film director Ken Loach, who was expelled from the party two years ago for claiming there had been a ‘purge’ of Corbyn supporters under Starmer’s leadership.
Now Burnham has come out today and released a joint statement with Steve Rotherham, his mayoral counterpart for Liverpool. In a letter to Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), the body which decided to block Driscoll’s candidacy, the pair called for him to be given a second chance. They write:
We wish to express our concern to you and other members of the NEC about the handling of the selection process for the North East Mayor. Whilst we appreciate the NEC’s important role in upholding standards within the party, and rooting out any form of antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, it also has a responsibility to ensure decisions are democratic, transparent and fair. To exclude a sitting mayor from a selection process with no right of appeal appears to us to be none of those things.
It’s the latest skirmish in the ongoing Burnham-Starmer war that has gripped Labour since the latter’s election as leader in April 2020. Burnham has long-harboured hopes of seizing the crown himself and was viewed throughout much of 2021 as Starmer’s most likely successor, thanks to his Covid stance against the Johnson government. Since then Burnham’s relevance has declined in Labour circles, while Starmer has soared to a 15-point poll lead.
The change in fortunes prompted the Labour leader to crack a series of jokes at his Christmas lobby drinks about his colleague’s changing loyalties. And last month after months of tensions between the two, Burnham accused Starmer’s ‘insecure’ aides of trying to undermine his work through negative briefings, urging them in a public plea to ‘leave me alone.’
Tony Blair had Ken Livingstone; looks like Starmer’s ‘night mayor’ is going to be Burnham…
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