Burnham is the most popular potential replacement for Starmer – which isn’t saying much

A 27 April study from YouGov revealed that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is more popular with the public than all other potential Labour leaders. This is quite unsurprising, given the absolute bloody shower that passes for a Labour Party in recent years.

Would a potential Labour successor do a better job than Keir Starmer? % of Britons saying each potential alternative would be better:

Andy Burnham: 34%
Angela Rayner: 15%
Ed Miliband: 13%
Wes Streeting: 13%
Yvette Cooper: 9%
Shabana Mahmood: 9%
David Lammy: 3%

Link in replies pic.twitter.com/LiZcREUnQ9

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 27, 2026

Speculation over a potential leadership bid from Burnham refocused in recent months, during his bid to become the MP for Gorton and Denton. The PLP blocked his candidacy, sparking rumours that Starmer feared Burnham gaining a seat would open the path to a leadership bid.

Starmer – not very popular

The news comes amid the ongoing crisis (ahem) of Starmer’s leadership. 58% of YouGov’s respondents rated the human embodiment of Overton shift as a “poor” or “terrible” prime minister.

The embattled PM is currently embroiled in a scandal over his appointment of disgraced ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson. Mandelson was forced to step down over his close ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It transpired that Mandelson had failed his vetting for the ambassadorial position, but the Foreign Office appointed him anyway.

Accordingly, YouGov reported that exactly half of the public hope to see Starmer stand down. Damningly, even among those who voted Labour in 2024, 36% want the centrists stooge out of office. By comparison, just 31% believe that Starmer should stay in No. 10.

Along the same lines, a majority of respondents were also highly critical of Starmer’s performance as PM. Some 35% rated him ‘terrible’, 23% opted for ‘poor’, 27% ‘average’, 9% ‘good’, and 1% ‘great.

All this led the pollster to muse that:

the main obstacle to the prime minister’s replacement appears largely to be the inability among PLP ranks to agree on a successor.

Oooft, that’s got to hurt.

Burnham – slightly less unpopular

YouGov also revealed that Burnham is the most competent potential replacement Labour leader in the eyes of the general public. However, that ‘most competent’ still isn’t saying a great deal. The pollster asked:

For each of the following, do you think they would do a better or worse job as prime minister compared to Keir Starmer, or would they be about the same?

For the any potential Labour Party of the future, the results were damnation by faint praise:

Andy Burnham is the only likely Labour alternative for prime minister that a significant number of Britons think would do a better job. However, this still only amounts to around a third of the public (34%), including only 11% who expect the Manchester mayor to do a “much better” job.

A further 17% think Burnham would put in a comparable performance to Starmer – hardly a reassuring sentiment for the mayor, given how poorly the public think the PM has done – while only 13% think he would actively be worse.

Even among 2024 Labour voters, only 41% thought that Burnham would put in a better showing, with 9% believing the Metro mayor would be an inferior leader.

And the rest?

The other possible Labour leadership contenders on YouGov’s list included Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper, Shabana Mahmood, and David Lammy.

However, if the outlook isn’t exactly rosy for Burnham, it’s downright dire for the other potentials. In fact, a greater number of respondents believe that any other contender would do a worse job than Starmer himself, compared to the percentage who think the other options would outperform the PM.

YouGov wrote:

Trailing much further behind [Burnham] are former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, of whom only 15% think will do better, as well as energy secretary Ed Miliband (13%) and health secretary Wes Streeting (13%).

Farther behind still are foreign secretary Yvette Cooper (9%) and home secretary Shabana (also 9%), while deputy prime minister David Lammy comes last, with just 3% having thinking he would outperform the man whose job he deputises.

Again, even among Labour voters, only 23-25% believe that Miliband and Rayner would do better than Starmer. Meanwhile, the majority see Cooper, Streeting, Mahmood and Lammy more “as liabilities than assets”.

‘Stop Burnham’ at all costs

Given that Burnham seems like the only viable option, it tracks that Starmer and his team are reportedly mobilising against the Metro mayor. An anonymous “senior party source” told the Times that they:

have been told to stop Andy being Keir’s successor in no uncertain terms, at any cost.

However, the Times also reported that Labour backbencher Peter Dowd has refused to rule out giving up his seat (Bootle) to enable Burnham to make his bid.

Of course, absolutely none of this says anything good about the future of the Labour Party. Back when he was gunning for Gorton and Denton, Your Party’s Zarah Sultana gave the measure of Burnham:

Andy Burnham played a key role in privatising our NHS while serving as Health Secretary.

Andy Burnham voted for the 2003 Iraq War — an illegal invasion that led to the deaths of over a million Iraqis.

Andy Burnham was a member of Labour Friends of Israel, an apartheid state that has committed genocide against the Palestinian people.

And that’s Labour’s best shot at a bright new day? We’ve got to ask, at this point – at what point do the PLP sack it all in and start from scratch?

Featured image via the Canary