Andy burnham

When will the Labour leadership contenders realise it’s the 2020 election they’re fighting?

Tonight’s Newsnight Labour leadership debate is a sink or swim moment for Liz Kendall. So far, there has been a lot of talk about Kendall’s candidacy and her potential to be a reforming leader. But until now, there hasn’t been a lot of proof to back that up. Some have been whispering that she doesn’t perform well under sustained pressure; others have likened her supporters to the Taliban. Either way, tonight’s debate is her opportunity to show that she is credible — as well as hopefully answering the crucial question of what, if anything, she stands for. It’s a mistake to label Kendall as just the Blairite right-wing candidate. Again, she has

Jeremy Corbyn makes Labour leadership ballot paper

Thanks to a last minute rush of nominations, Jeremy Corbyn has made it onto the Labour leadership ballot paper. Corbyn had 30 MPs backing him at 11am this morning and it seems some undecideds and Team Burnham defectors were persuaded it would be a good thing to have Corbyn in the contest, taking him to the 35 names he needed. The MP for Islington North is now the most left-wing candidate to fight a Labour leadership election since Tony Benn ran against Neil Kinnock in 1988. But as you can see from the list of MPs nominating him below, many of those backing Corbyn are not his natural supporters. In fact some, such

Team Burnham: ‘Taliban New Labour’ remarks came from Cooper’s campaign

Who described the folks backing Liz Kendall as the ‘Taliban New Labour’? The Telegraph’s story this morning attributed the vituperative comments to a ‘sources close to Burnham and Cooper,’ but both campaigns are distancing themselves from the remarks. A source on Team Burnham tells Coffee House that the comments came from Yvette’s Team and not from anyone on the Burnham campaign. But Team Cooper on the other hand is quick to say that the comments did not come from them either. A source on Cooper’s campaign says: ‘I don’t think it helps to get into finger pointing. It absolutely wasn’t us. It’s not language we endorse or have even heard. It’s not a very useful contribution

The Labour leadership contest is about to get nasty

Today is the last call for nominating candidates in the Labour leadership contest. At noon, the nominations will close and we’ll know then whether it’s going to be a three or four horse race. Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall are on the ballot paper so it’s now a question of whether Jeremy Corbyn can find the extra 17 MPs to meet the 15 per cent threshold. By our calculations, there are 42 MPs still to declare, so it remains very possible that a late surge will push Corbyn towards the 35 nominations needed to make it onto the ballot Once nominations are closed, the leadership race is thrown into the hands of Labour party

Labour’s left and right wings want Jeremy Corbyn on the ballot paper

Jeremy Corbyn is adding some unlikely excitement to the Labour leadership contest. Although he does not have enough MPs yet to make it onto the ballot paper — he needs another 16 nominations at the time of writing — there is still a sense he might make it into race. As I wrote earlier in the week, the other campaigns are open to ‘loaning’ Corbyn some of their nominations if he nearing the magic 35 threshold. Typically, Corbyn is sticking to his principles and has told Total Politics he is not keen on the idea of other candidates helping him: ‘I’m not particularly into charity nominations. I want to see a proper debate within the

Ed’s campaign was fine. The problem is his party

Patrick Wintour is one of the best political editors around. For the Guardian he’s been for decades a cool and well-sourced voice: even-handed, informed, interesting but in the best sense dry. So when I heard he’d written the most comprehensive behind-the-scenes account yet of Labour’s failed general election campaign I hurried to read it. I was not disappointed. ‘The undoing of Ed Miliband, and how Labour lost the election’ is an insider account of a chapter of accidents, starting with Mr Miliband’s memory lapse about the deficit during Labour’s last party conference. Apparently he shut himself in his hotel room afterwards and wouldn’t come out. The story takes us through to

How Jeremy Corbyn could still make it onto the Labour leadership ballot

Nominations for the Labour leadership contest may have only been open for 24 hours but Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall already have enough to support to make it onto the ballot paper. There are, though, still around 70 MPs who have yet to declare their intensions — see who they are here. All of the leadership campaigns are predicting that the contest is set to be either a two or three horse race, with most of these undecided backing Burnham, Cooper or Kendall. But let us not forget Mary Creagh and Jeremy Corbyn, who are still in the race and there are enough undecideds to put both of them

Andy Burnham booed for dodging answer on £23k welfare cap

Andy Burnham’s Labour leadership bid hit a rough patch at the GMB hustings today. When asked by the moderator Kevin Maguire if he supported the £23,000 a year benefits cap, unlike the other candidates, Burnham was unable to give a straight yes or no answer. As you can watch above, he attempted to explain his stance: ‘In principle, it’s not right that people on benefits get more than they are likely to earn in a lifetime,’ but the audience didn’t seem to care. Then later in the debate, the candidates were quizzed on the cost of everyday items, such as petrol. After hesitating, Burnham said it was £1.60 a litre — far

Labour’s role in the EU referendum campaign dominates party hustings

‘There’s a sense that no one is hitting it out of the park right now’, commented one Labour MP after this lunchtime’s Parliamentary Labour Party hustings. I’m told that all the candidates had their moments at the behind closed doors event, but that no one truly dominated. Liz Kendall continued with her role as the teller of hard truths. She warned the assembled MPs that nothing else would matter if people still don’t trust Labour with their money in 2020. Andy Burnham struck a different tone. He stressed that on inequality, Labour must not distance itself too much from the last five years. However, interestingly, he argued that Labour should not abolish right to

Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall put in strong performances at Fabian hustings

The Fabian Society hosted a hustings for the Labour leadership this afternoon, featuring all five of the declared candidates: Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall, Mary Creagh and Jeremy Corbyn. Following the Progress event a few weeks ago, this is the second time four of these candidates have appeared onstage together — Corbyn only entered the race a few days ago. Fabian supporters tend to be well disposed towards Ed Miliband so unsurprisingly, the reactions favoured the more left wing sentiments. As the current favourite to win, Andy Burnham has the highest expectations to meet and his turn today suggests he remains the firm favourite — especially if the line for

Labour, Prince Charles and homeopathic quacks: Andy Burnham has some explaining to do

Obfuscation is an important tool in the kit of any snake oil salesman, which helps to explain why the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital has changed its name. It’s now known as The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine. In this context the word ‘integrated’ is used because it’s suitably vague. It’s a catch-all term to describe any treatment ‘outside of mainstream healthcare’ – or in other words, treatments that don’t work. Homeopathy is a huge embarrassment to the NHS, but it’s not nearly as maligned as it should be. In fact it has one very prestigious backer, with a direct line to the Cabinet and the Prime Minister. Prince Charles’

Liz Kendall: the ‘change everything’ Labour leadership candidate?

The Labour leadership contest will heat up in the next few days. Tomorrow, the Fabian Society will host a hustings with all of the declared candidates. Liz Kendall is set for a grilling on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. On Monday, all of the candidates will address the Parliamentary Labour Party before heading to Dublin for the GMB union’s annual conference. And at noon on Tuesday, the nomination process officially begins. Each of the candidates has something to prove over the next few days. Andy Burnham needs to demonstrate whether he is standing as a reformed Blairite or a Miliband-esque defender of public services. Yvette Cooper needs to prove she has

Podcast: the high priests of health and the collapse of Andy Coulson’s perjury trial

Is the NHS bossing around the British people too much? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Douglas Murray and Christopher Snowden discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on the high priests of health and how the NHS is telling us how to live our lives. Does this level of continued intrusion show that the NHS is unsustainable on its current form? And what are the myths of the so-called obesity epidemic? James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also discuss the latest in the Labour leadership contest. Why has Yvette Cooper struggled to define what she stands for? Can Liz Kendall make up the lost ground to the other candidates? And is there anything that will harm Andy Burnham’s chances? We also look back on

Can MPs really refuse a pay rise anyway?

If you’re a Labour leadership contender, or keen for other reasons to look in touch with people – or perhaps you really do disagree with MPs getting a 10 per cent pay rise, then the fashionable thing to say is that you’ll be turning down the pay rise. This morning Andy Burnham has said he will refuse the extra £7,000 that Ipsa plans to pay MPs per year, tweeting that he ‘will turn down at source or give to local groups’. Stella Creasy, campaigning to be elected Labour’s deputy leader, has said similar. I have always been clear that 10% pay rise for MPs cannot be justified. I won't accept

Labour leadership contenders make their case at health questions

The odd thing about the Labour leadership contest is that while it runs, two of the most different candidates, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham, must work together in the Shadow Health team. Today they had a chance to show how well they perform in the Commons, speaking within minutes of one another at the first questions of the new Parliament. Kendall asked about access to GPs, asking Jeremy Hunt why he had failed to meet his promises in this area. Her delivery was not particularly confident: she read her question and was nowhere near as forceful as Burnham, who came later. Hunt congratulated the Shadow Health Minister on her return

Team Yvette: We are setting the agenda in the leadership contest

Now that the three main candidates in the Labour leadership contest have established themselves, they are vying to be the ones who set the agenda and the terms of debate. This suggests, they hope, that others, including rival candidates, respect them so much that they cannot help but following their lead. So Yvette Cooper’s campaign believe that Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham have been following in the Shadow Home Secretary’s wake, pointing to interventions she has made on business, tax, the benefit cap, the party’s response to the election and the possibility of a break clause for the party to dump or renew its support for a leader. All of

Steerpike

Team Burnham (finally) distance themselves from Dr Éoin Clarke

Oh dear. The love in between Dr Éoin Clarke and aspiring Labour leader Andy Burnham appears to be over. Mr S’s colleague Sebastian Payne noted last week that Burnham has attracted ‘an online army of fans’ which includes Dr Eoin Clarke: ‘Part of [Burnham’s] nascent leadership campaign is an online army of fans who are promoting his cause and attacking his opponents. Twitter and Facebook are going to be key battlegrounds for each of the contenders — offering an easy way to spread a message without the filter of the media.’ These e-cheerleaders have subsequently been christened ‘Fandies’. Queen bee among the ‘Fandies’ remains Clarke – a man armed with nothing more than a PhD

Steerpike

Labour leadership race touches a sore spot for Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham may be the odds-on favourite for the Labour leadership but that doesn’t mean it’s all plain sailing for the politician. Mr S notes that Burnham has been sporting a bruised lip of late. When a hack spied him in the Strangers bar recently, they asked him whether the Labour leadership race had become physical with a punch-up. Happily, it appears that, despite Burnham having a barmy online army behind him, punches are yet to be thrown. Instead it’s a cold sore which Burnham put down to ‘stress’. Still Mr S can’t help but wonder how he will cope if elected leader if he is this stressed already. Is Andy Burnham’s

Yvette Cooper makes coded attack on Liz Kendall for ‘swallowing’ the Tory manifesto

Yvette Cooper may lack some of Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall’s momentum but she remains a formidable opponent in the Labour leadership contest. On the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Cooper was quizzed on how enthusiastic she is for the job, given her late entry to the contest: ‘I want to make sure that Labour leads and wins again and I think I’m the right person to do that because I think I can be the strongest in terms of taking on David Cameron. I also think I will set out ideas for the future that don’t just involve swallowing the Tory manifesto and set out a Labour vision for the

Andy Burnham’s barmy online army

Andy Burnham’s campaign has ensured he remains the current favourite to be the next Labour leader. Part of his nascent leadership campaign is an online army of fans who are promoting his cause and attacking his opponents. Twitter and Facebook are going to be key battlegrounds for each of the contenders — offering an easy way to spread a message without the filter of the media. Naturally, Burnham’s campaign has an official Twitter account: @Andy4Leader. As far as I can see, this is the only official account associated with Burnham’s campaign. The account has 1,421 and mostly retweets favourable news from others about Burnham. On May 13, it posted this