Well, well, well. The atmosphere is more than a little tense as Labour conference kicks off in Liverpool. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suffered not just from poor poll results – with a recent MRP suggesting his party could fall to less than 100 seats at the next general election – but the PM has lost both his deputy and ambassador to the US. Further north, feathers were ruffled during Starmer’s reshuffle when Scottish Secretary Ian Murray – member of parliament for Edinburgh South since 2010 – was cut from the government in place of Douglas Alexander, onetime Scotland Secretary for Tony Blair. But while Sir Keir has had a rough ride lately, it would appear that Scottish Labour are rather sceptical about Andy Burnham’s bid for the leadership.
Speaking at the Fabian Society’s Scottish reception, deputy Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie was pulling no punches when it came to the Greater Manchester mayor’s leadership pitch – where, in an interview last week, he called for ‘wholesale change’ to avoid an ‘existential’ threat to the Labour party, and set out his own politics of ‘Manchesterism’. Not that Jackie thought all that much of it, however. Speaking at the Labour conference fringe event, the Scottish party’s deputy leader turned her attention to another pro-devolution colleague. ‘To the so-called King of the North, Manchester needs you,’ she remarked primly. Leader Anas Sarwar said of the mayor: ‘Andy is doing a fantastic job as the Mayor of Manchester. I think the people of Manchester need him.’ And as the Scottish Sun reports, finance spokesperson Michael Marra stated simply: ‘I think he should shut up.’ The gloves are coming off…
It comes after a number of senior Labour figures have dropped not-so-subtle hints that Burnham should, er, stay in his lane. The new Scotland Secretary was one such person – saying on air that Burnham had certainly been successful in Manchester – while communities secretary Steve Reed called the northern mayor a great ‘regional’ politician who had ‘a few more years to run in that job’. Oo er. Talk about overplaying your hand, eh?
Comments