Lammy can’t say who Starmer supporters should vote for in Makerfield

UK politics is an absolute mess right now – everyone knows Keir Starmer is finished, but he’s still in power, and he hasn’t announced a plan to step down. Andy Burnham, meanwhile, is running to become an MP in Makerfield, with everyone understanding he intends to give Starmer the boot once he’s in office.

As a result of all this, the media is now just openly taking the piss out of Labour Cabinet ministers:

Sophy Ridge asks David Lammy, if you live in Makerfield and quite like Keir Starmer, who should you vote for in the by-election? pic.twitter.com/OSJG1YrnYb

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 18, 2026

The Starmer question

In the video above, Sophy Ridge asks deputy PM David Lammy:

My question on this by-election is if you quite like Keir Starmer, who should you vote for?

It’s a fair question. And it’s one which Lammy avoided answering:

Oh, look. This is a Labour by-election. We’ve got to fight for every vote. Reform will be challenging hard.

I’ve known Andy Burnham for over a quarter of a century. We were both protégés of the wonderful Tessa Jowell. We worked together all those years ago under Tony Blair.

That’s right, isn’t it, Burnham did indeed rise through the ranks as a Blairite. People have largely forgotten this because Burnham has moved leftwards as the mayor of Greater Manchester – particularly when it comes to public transport initiatives.

Given that Tony Blair and his neoliberal privatisation politics are both incredibly unpopular, we wonder if Lammy brought this up to put people off Burnham?

It would certainly make sense. After all, the deputy PM will be a deputy nothing once Starmer is gone, and Starmer’s only path to remaining in position is for Burnham to lose.

Before we get back to the interview, we should note that Burnham might not be as progressive as people are hoping. He’s already said Labour shouldn’t pursue proportional representation in this parliament, and there’s reason to suspect he wouldn’t pursue full re-nationalisation (emphasis added):

The country gave away its control of basic things people depend upon every day. And that was a big mistake in my view.

Put more things back under public, stronger public control: energy, housing, water, transport.

Why not full public control, Andy?

From experience, we know that once private companies have their foot in the door, they’ll eventually take over the house.

Full support

Lammy continued:

He will be a great addition to Parliament for Makerfield. He has my full support. I will be up there. Much of the Cabinet will be up there, of course.

Sending the full Starmer Cabinet, are they?

Once again, this seems like a plan to turn voters off given the popularity of this current government.

When she didn’t get a proper answer, an amused Ridge asked:

The reason I ask the question, though, it is a little bit confusing because, in a way, a vote for the Labour candidate in Makerfield is a vote to get rid of Keir Starmer. So if you kind of like Keir Starmer… Should you vote for Andy Burnham? Because we know, as soon as he gets back to Parliament, he’s going to challenge the leadership.

Lammy responded:

Let’s step back. I’m not going to sugarcoat this. I thought that the Labour Party, over the last 10 days, had a spectacular own goal after those local election results. We now need to unite and pull together. We have a by-election to fight.

It’s true that he didn’t sugarcoat it, but he also didn’t answer.

How could he?

The Starmer administration is truly one of the most farcical governments this country has ever endured, and that’s really saying something given the past two decades.

Featured image via Sky News