The Poolie Bunker

Blocked by Labours ruling party, various reasons one was being it has to be female candidate because of the lack of Labour women MPs ?
Labour sources have told the BBC lots of concerns were raised about the costs of an election to replace Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor and the "prospect of a divisive campaign".
But allies of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer feared Burnham - a former cabinet minister - could mount a leadership challenge, should he return to Westminster.
NEC sources told the BBC the vote was 8-1 in favour of blocking Burnham's candidacy, very decisive I would say.

He’s better off staying where he is, only trouble is would the hood people of Manchester be disappointed in him jumping ship then limping back….?
Let’s be honest, if Burnham eventually displaced Starmer, it would be like getting the Captains job on the Titanic as the water is lapping round his feet.

Equality is equality not discrimination. Disgrace that the men haters are.
His Grecian 2000 must be considerable.

Once he resigns the mayors job there is no where for Burnham to limp back to, it would be a brave man to become the leader of the Labour Party.

Or an idiot - oh, wait a minute........

The Labour Party Committee have told him they want to remain as Mayor of Manchester….sadly it looks like he was quite happy to jump ship for fame and fortune, which surely disappointed his voters in Manchester, who must now feel second best.

Would imagine the discussion would have gone along the lines of "welcome everyone, I'm sure we're all in agreement we can't have Burnham as MP he's not even got today's Labour values, he listens to the plebs and tries to improve their lives and their local area. Let's decide on some half credible reasons to give the media".

It would be interesting election if Labour lost the seat to who ever, could be egg on the face of the Labour Party selection committee.

They'll lose the seat for sure, Burnham was probably their best bet to retain it.

At least with his eyebrows he can always go back to his job with Thunderbirds….?

Wonder who gets the nomination, this should be interesting.

It'll be as pc as possible, someone preferably with a disability, from an ethnic minority, transgender but now identifying as non-binary - won't matter they'll lose the seat.

Farage must be laughing his socks off at the lot of them ,Jamie ??

He could always resign as mayor and stand as an independent in the constituency if he had any real concerns about the people of Manchester being dictated to by a London metropolitan elite. Then Labour would still have to pay for a mayoral election and lose a by-election.

The precedent has already been set by BoJo when he was Mayor of London. So no way were Labour going to allow him to stand in a by election.

Burnham and Rayner in the background popping their heads up again..You're next Diane Abbott..Ooh me ribs!!

I suspect it will be a female from the religion of peace.

Reform will now take both the Westminster seat and the subsequent mayoral election in a couple of years. Labour must have known this but Starmer has obviously chosen to sacrifice those elections rather than have Burnham in parliament ready to challenge him. Either way he’s toast after the wipeout that’s coming in May.

I imagine he will be, Labour shot themselves in the foot again, there will be egg on Starmers face deservedly so if Labour lose the by election or does he think he can sacrifice one seat to protect his ego. He has done so much damage to the Labour Party and the quicker he goes the better

Starmer makes a virtue of annoying key groups then doing a partial U turn, alienating those he didn’t need to.
I suspect he’s so far out of kilter with his MP’s that the train is coming down the track and Starmer will insist it’s business as usual as the structure starts to crumble.
He had a golden opportunity and like Boris he inexplicably blew it in an even more spectacular fashion…the two main Party’s are floundering.

Pretty sure the rules are that he could have remained as Mayor of Manchester until and unless he was elected as MP. So no cost for a mayoral election unless he won the seat, Starmer running scared again - can see another U turn coming on this one.

it certainly will not be a vote winner. i would never vote for any party that excludes any sex for standing for selection. i,m sure i cannot be the only one who get wound up by this. foes it matter if westminster has all males or all females as long as they can do the job.

In a true democracy all prospective candidates would be assessed on their merits by the local political party so that they can choose who is best to represent their area not the greater party interests. Parachuting people into safe seats is also anti-democratic.
It'll bite them on the arse as it'll divide the party and definitely lose them the seat.

Off topic rather 5han start a new topic, Braverman has defected to Reform, good or bad for Reform, she wasn’t the popular politician nicknamed Cruella.

There'll be lots more yet from both of the main parties as they try to extend their ride on the Westminster gravy train. Reform will lap it up as acceptable faces standing at the next elections in their name. Fully expecting Jenrick to be leader before the next GE too.

Having strict guide lines as to who can stand as opposed to election on merit, smacks of states where you don’t get the best, just the most compliant party members.
Very Putinesque.

She’s a scrapper and has been at loggerheads with the Tory party for a while….with the announcement that there’s talk of Tory MP’s wanting the Party to be more centrist…..there’ll probably more jumping ship.

What a daft day to announce Cruella's defection when Starmer is getting such stick for the Burnham decision.

I saw the headline "Tory defects".

Was ill advised to try for the seat. There were always too many obstacles including possible defeat by Reform. Andy is well out of it.

I like Kier Starmer as an intelligent and honest individual but he has presided over an incompetent government that has rarely got anything right first time suggesting that there is a lack of attention to detail. I have supported Labour for over 60 years but nothing will stop my voting for Reform at future elections! Radical policies including getting rid of the European Human Rights legislation are needed and Reform are the only party to be trusted to implement them.

Traitors?....it's all the rage over here,i havent watched it, it looks well naff..

I know we have different views but i get on my pray mat and thank god we aint got the orange bloke.
Is there a god?

the labour party should read your comments as you are certainly far from being on your own. however i still feel the tories lost the last ge rather than labour winning it.

Yep and the Tories are jumping ship to Reform, same brand different name, there are now more members of the Truss cabinet in Farage team than Badenoch team. They are looking to stay on the gravy train, if for some reason an election was called tomorrow being a member of Reform is a better option than being a member of the Conservatives.
It’s been mentioned many times, if a politician jumps ship there should be a by election as the majority vote for the party not the individual.

The attraction of supporting Reform or even joining them is all down to one reason and that is the electorate have been turned away by the so called two traditionally named main parties and are looking for an alternative. They put their faith heavily in the Labour Party, were promised change and this present Government had a gilt edged opportunity handed to them on a plate. They have, due to their breathtaking incompetence, made a sensational pig's ear of that chance and have fully opened the door to Reform.
If we end up with a Reform Government there is only one place to, rightly or wrongly, lay the blame. I have yet to be convinced that Reform is the way forward but if they succeed in getting rid of this present bunch of amateurs they will have started by doing the Country a massive favour.

"Same brand different name"...I don't think so, the Tories have lurched so far left of centre over the last couple of decades (hence we're in the sh.t we are now) it's difficult to tell the difference between them and the Labour left, Reform only need to be right of centre to get the votes of a majority of the electorate as they have no competition in that sector and people want real change not smoke and mirrors being offered by the current shower.

Labour left, your having a laugh !

Good take down of Braverman, sacked 3 times,
https://youtu.be/YbjiHLFrOes?si=BrGRGGPNkNr7_4gn

The Tory’s have been condemned by the media for mentioning Mental Health issues were involved…result furious back pedalling by the Tory’s and apologies all round…..the Tory’s have been going down the drain for years…..it appears to be speeding up now.

And there we have it, Jamie has managed to turn a thread about Burnham and Labour into one about Reform and the Tories, Quel Surpris!!

Aye you can’t beat a a bit of variety, it’s the spice of life, back to Burnham, Starmer initially said they didn’t want to burden the electorate with the cost of a mayoral election. Now he is saying he didn’t want to lose both mayoral election and the by election if Burnham was allowed to stand, he said they can afford to lose the by election due to their majority in Parliament.

I don't think Burnham would be any better than thingy.

Didn't the Conservatives prove that constantly changing leader doesn't really change anything.

I've just had a look back at our last ten PM's, number ten being Callaghan - the list makes a shoddy read, only a couple stand out as being reasonable.

Are you deluded?, they've become so far left they'd be going anti-clockwise around a lamppost.

Whatever the problem is, Burnham aint the answer.

looking at the by election the poles seem to think its either reform or the greens will win it. a case of voting out 2 failing parties.

30p Lee bussed some Reform supporters in to start canvassing, he posted a photo of them posing in front of a building flying a Union flag, turns out he was in the wrong constituency, ironically it was Rayners constituency.

It does make me wonder what Green party voters make of Polanski's pledge for the legalisation and regulation of drugs,including class A...the usual argument from them is that it works in Portugal....??

He can turn up where he wants too,Jamie..As for Angie,she's probably down in Hove,Brighton..

If your going to canvas you should at least do it in the constituency where the by election is Sussex, why have a dig at Rayner, my post is about 30p 3 party Lee.

Maybe he went there to remind her to fill in her tax return?.....the deadline is a couple of days away.