Burnham calls out No. 10 ‘untruths’ as briefing war intensifies

On X, ITV’s Robert Peston reported that sources close to the PM say Andy Burnham knew he’d be blocked before submitting his National Executive Committee (NEC) candidacy for the Gorton and Denton by-election. Burnham went straight to X to reject the reports, saying the “sources” are wrong suggesting the block indeed came without prior warning:

It’s a he-said, he-said battle – and the public is the loser

Peston’s initial report stated:

Sources close to the PM tell me that Andy Burnham was informed in no uncertain terms that he would be repulsed if he requested permission of the NEC committee to put his name forward for the Gorton and Denton by election.

He chose to do so, they say, knowing the outcome in advance.

They therefore interpret his application as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer and sow dissent, rather than – which he claims – see off the threat from Reform.

Per contra Burnham and his supporters accuse Starmer and the NEC committee of an anti democratic stitch-up.

These supporters include the MP signatories of a letter I talked about on ITV Evening News yesterday. It says “there is no legitimate reason why Andy Burnham should not have the democratic right to put his candidacy to the local people of Gorton and Denton.”

They also argue that the standoff between Burnham and Starmer “risks playing into the kind of division and disunity that Nigel Farage and Reform thrive on.”

That is a statement of the bleedin’ obvious. What will be contested is whether the prime culprit is the PM or the Manchester mayor.

As the X account above points out, the “sources” close to the PM have yet to show themselves to be credible or reliable. We’ve reported countless times on the fraud and abuse that have been intrinsic with the McSweeney-instructed rise of Starmer.

Paul Holden exposed McSweeney’s duplicitousness in his new book ‘The Fraud’, writing for the Canary in October:

Maguire was clearly taken with McSweeney, their shared Irishness underpinning an instant rapport. “He seemed like such a pure boy”, she recalled, “with his little bright cheeks”. After a long time in the party, Maguire had become finely attuned to ‘Progress types’, a reference to the Blairite group that was implacably opposed to Corbynism. She detected no hint that McSweeney was aligned with this faction or that he “despised” Corbyn and Corbynism.

In fact, she found him “so fantastic, so intelligent, so articulate”, She recalls thinking that “if only somebody like Morgan was running the country”, everything would be alright. Little did she know that, even as McSweeney was penning scripts about trans rights and other right-on causes, he was simultaneously incubating plans to drive her worldview out of the party for good.

Establishment flailing, far-right rising

Establishment parties are rapidly racing to the bottom in a desperate attempt to feel relevant, but they’re reading the room entirely wrong. Instead, they have chosen to veer further to the right and to petty politics. So much so, that they’re making Reform look more palatable to voters. That is quite an accomplishment, given the leader’s controversial ties to U.S. strongman Trump and the party’s long-standing toxic and divisive agenda.

We wrote earlier today about how this wilful abandonment of principle in order to desperately try to cling onto power is helping their far-right competition, not hindering them:

Establishment politicians have shown time and time again, they are here for self-interest alone. After all, political vision and ideology are long forgotten. In their place stand greed and reactive posturing, as MPs chase whatever trends make others appear popular.

Labour is growing increasingly authoritarian, and the Tories are sinking into gutter politics. In doing so, the establishment parties have handed Reform a false sheen of superiority that this extremist, billionaire-backed party has no right to claim.

This X account suggests the debacle and ongoing briefings have already done lasting damage to both Labour and Burnham:

What really grips me is why he tried, naked ambition is great in the right place, but when you're committed to an important job, for great people, then you try and abandon them and upset the whole party because you're greedy for a position, YOU LOSE ALL CREDIBILITY AND RESPECT 🙏 https://t.co/uINTvHH43G pic.twitter.com/GoEEAfJ4nC

— Dan_Dare_Life (@dan_dare_quest) January 27, 2026

Establishment and the far-right: all out for themselves

As it stands, today’s Labour government is laying the ideal foundations for a far-right, authoritarian takeover in 2029.

This latest incident and pathetic show of briefing suggest a more unsettling truth. The Labour right far prefers this outcome to delivering a politics that might actually help the masses.

Featured image via the Canary