Labour Together saboteur Simons quits seat — for Burnham

Saboteur outfit Labour Together’s (LT) determination to remove Keir Starmer — while retaining control of the party — is clearly huge. LT director Josh Simons was previously considered a ‘Starmtrooper’. But he has today, 14 May 2026, quit his parliamentary seat, Ashton in Makerfield, to give Andy Burnham a shot at getting into the Labour leadership contest.

Simons’s resignation letter to his constituents claims he has always put them first — but that to counter the “rot” of Starmer’s “complacency”, he has to resign his post for Burnham:

Given Labour’s relatively narrow majority in 2024, it’s far from certain that Burnham will win somewhere like Ashton. Far from certain that the Labour right on the party’s national executive will let him stand, too. However, such a hard-right, pro-Israel figure as Simons quitting for him suggests some kind of deal or accommodation has been made to remove at least the first hurdle.

Simons was in charge of LT when it paid a firm to spy on independent journalist and author Paul Holden, who was writing a book about LT’s secret activities and its sabotage of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The firm also spied on a couple of ‘mainstream’ hacks who were prying a bit too closely. He quit when he was found out but remains a full-throated amplifier of antisemitism smears and turned on Starmer this week, at least publicly.

Labour — both nags in a two-horse race?

So has Burnham made a ‘deal with the devil’ to get into the leadership contest after Starmer mini-me Wes Streeting tried to close him out by announcing quickly? Is the Labour right so desperate to have the appearance of a contest that they are making way for Burnham? Is it simply looking for revenge on Starmer for removing Simons and his fellow LT ghoul Morgan McSweeney?

Or is Labour Together trying to back — and ride — both nags in a two-horse race and keep control of Labour either way, now that their first horse is off to the knackers’ yard?

Whichever, it’s not going to be anything good for the country — or the people of Ashton in Makerfield, assuming they don’t elect a Farage-fascist.

Featured image via the Canary