Labour shanks Burnham and his ambition to replace Starmer

Andy Burnham’s plan to replace Keir Starmer is officially over.

For now, anyway.

Given Starmer’s rank incompetence, he clearly won’t be able to keep the Manchester Mayor out of parliament forever:

BREAKING: Andy Burnham *blocked* from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Of nine voting members on NEC group it was 8-1 against him.

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) January 25, 2026

Burnham shanked

Despite claiming otherwise, it’s obvious to everyone that Burnham’s plan is to replace Keir Starmer. Given how unpopular Labour are under Starmer’s leadership, there’d be no reason to join Labour besides replacing him:

🚨 POLL | Reform lead by 9pts

— Votes —
➡️ Ref: 31% (=)
🔴 Lab: 22% (+2)
🔵 Con: 17% (-1)
🟠 Lib: 13% (+1)
🟢 Grn: 11% (-2)

— Seats —
➡️ Ref: 341
🔴 Lab: 118
🟠 Lib: 80
🟡 SNP: 47
🔵 Con: 23
🟢 Grn: 13

Based on Opinium poll, 21-23 Jan (+/- vs 9 Jan) pic.twitter.com/AHH68LWAqv

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) January 25, 2026

Earlier today, a smirking Shabana Mahmood appeared on the Sunday interview slots and said she would be entirely impartial as the NEC head:

#trevorphillips: "Will Andy Burnham be allowed to compete for the nomination?"

Shabana Mahmood: ".. my job is to be an impartial chair [of the NEC].. I play things with a straight bat"

If theres one thing the faction running Lab are known for, its honesty and integrity, right? pic.twitter.com/tO6DxRZ2BK

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 25, 2026

It’s now obvious why she had cause to smirk. Clearly, like us, she knew that Starmer had stacked the NEC in his favour.

This is what Skwawkbox wrote for the Canary on 22 January:

Despite Starmer’s 2020 leadership election promise to allow members to decide who stands for election, the NEC decides the process. Like the rest of the party, it’s now stacked with Starmeroids – or in many cases Israel loyalists, which is functionally the same thing. The NEC can impose a shortlist of favoured flunkies on party members in Gwynne’s seat. Or it can decide that it’s ‘essential’ to make an ‘all-woman shortlist.’ The Labour right is so well known for its commitment to women, after all.

Or if it was in the mood to send a message of its contempt, it could find a pretext to suspend Burnham’s membership of the Labour party. That would automatically prevent him standing for selection.

None of these are theoretical. The NEC has used all of them shamelessly, since Starmer became party leader, to block candidates it doesn’t like.

Following the decision, commentators are reacting with shock (commentators besides our own Skwawkbox, obviously):

Blocking Andy Burnham is perhaps the worst decision the NEC could’ve made.

They’ll now almost certainly lose the seat, and this gives ammunition to those who want to oust Starmer.

Yet again, this government proving it doesn’t understand how to play politics

— Oliver Dean (@the_olliedean) January 25, 2026

Others are pointing out the obvious about ‘Fear’ Starmer:

NEW: Andy Burnham has been blocked by the NEC. Starmer is a coward

— Dr Iain Darcy 🍉 🇮🇪 💚 (@doctoriaindarcy) January 25, 2026

Labour — shooting itself in the face

For reference, the byelection in question is in Greater Manchester where Burnham is literally as popular as a politician can be:

“After careful scrutiny of the area mayoral electoral evidence, the NEC does not see you as a suitable candidate for the constituency Mr Burnham” pic.twitter.com/0gxkg6YV5y

— Jon Tonge (@JonTonge) January 24, 2026

A person can criticise Burnham all they like while still recognising that Labour are going against their interests by blocking him. So why are they doing it?

As Paul Holden uncovered in his book The Fraud, Starmer is surrounded by a cabal of shadowy right-wing shitbags who believe the future of the Labour Party is to repeat the Thatcherite mistakes of the past. This means more privatisation, less democracy, fewer opportunities for working class people, and infinite handouts for greedy donors and foreign contractors.

We’ve seen this vision in practice now, and it’s clear the public despises it. Starmer obviously anticipated this, which is why he immediately began shaping the Labour Party into the authoritarian nightmare it is today when he took power:

Labour’s NEC blocks Burnham’s request to stand by 8 votes to 1. A function of how Starmer & the Labour right rigorously control bureaucracy.

The stuff about Corbyn being a ‘Stalinist’ was all projection by these people. And the liberal media was idiotic enough to believe it. pic.twitter.com/NwHgTAZbWb

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) January 25, 2026

Alternatives

As we’ve made clear elsewhere, we don’t trust Burnham, and we don’t think he’s the PM this country needs. At the same time, we’re not delusional, and we can see he’d be a step up from Starmer:

Andy Burnham says Britain is still “in hock to the bond markets” thanks to what he calls the four horsemen of the apocalypse: “Deregulation, privatisation, austerity and Brexit.” https://t.co/5NlRsyTmtk

— Tom McTague (@TomMcTague) January 20, 2026

Of course, it’s easy to be a step up when you’re talking about a PM who lives in the gutter.

Featured image via Thomas Dahlstrom Nielsen (Wikimedia)