Labour's Andy Burnham, the current mayor of Greater Manchester, has won a special election for a seat in Parliament that puts him in a position to challenge embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer for leadership of the country. Burnham decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwest England over Rob Kenyon of the anti-immigration party Reform UK, the AP reports.
- The victory announced early Friday cements the status of Burnham, a 56-year-old politician nicknamed the King of the North, as the top contender to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party and the country. Burnham won almost 55% of the 45,510 votes cast for a field of more than a dozen candidates, over 9,000 more than runner-up Kenyon. The far-right Restore Britain party was a distant third, with around 7% of the vote, per the BBC.
Burnham's victory speech left no doubt that he wants to lead the country, and not just be one of the more than 400 Labour lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons. "Everyone knows that politics isn't working," he said. "Everyone can feel that the country isn't where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point." Starmer, who has insisted he will fight any leadership challenge, congratulated Burnham. "Voters chose Labour's campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate," the prime minister wrote on X. Burnham has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. He is pledging to repeat his signature brand of "Manchesterism" on a national scale.
- Burnham said he would work to ensure that "the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs." He said Labour had "a final chance to change" and win back voters' trust. "But it is a chance now, from this result tonight, to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States," he said.
- Starmer's popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024. Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party, and facing a rising Reform UK, which consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.
- Britain's parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leaders midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a national election. Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they have backing from a fifth of the party's House of Commons lawmakers—a number that stands at 81.
- The victorious Burnham will head to London to be sworn in as a lawmaker as soon as Monday. He's likely to seek a meeting with Starmer to argue that the prime minister should exit gracefully and set a timetable for his departure.
- Starmer has so far insisted he has no intention of leaving his post. He has suggested that he could offer Burnham a Cabinet post, telling Sky News on Wednesday that "I want him to have a big role in government." Allies of Burnham indicated that he wasn't interested.
- Labour MP Patrick Hurley, who had previously remained loyal to Starmer, urged him to step down after Burnham's win, the Guardian reports. "The will of the parliamentary Labour party is obvious and I think that really we need to now see the prime minister set out a transition process," Hurley said.
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