"When Labour dignitaries gathered at the Titanic hotel in Liverpool on Friday night, one question loomed above all others: to change captain or not? For many, that question has become even more pressing after Keir Starmer's allies brutally stopped Andy Burnham's return to Westminster before it had even begun. There were plausible practical reasons for blocking the Greater Manchester mayor from running in the newly vacant Gorton and Denton seat: not least that the byelection to replace him would be the biggest and most expensive in modern British history."
"This diverse south-east Manchester seat is home to about 119,000 people, including the left-leaning young professionals of Levenshulme, the white working-class Reform voters of Denton, and a significant Muslim population 28% of the total around Rusholme and Gorton. Andrew Gwynne, the former minister who retired on medical grounds this week after an 11-month suspension over leaked WhatsApp messages, won with a 13,413-vote majority in 2024, with Reform UK finishing second. Although it is a new constituency introduced as a result of boundary changes, it is formed from three seats that have voted Labour for decades."
Labour confronted a leadership choice after allies of Keir Starmer prevented Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Party figures justified the decision on practical grounds, citing the likely scale and expense of the contest. Many MPs perceived the move as protecting the prime minister while his popularity declines. The new south-east Manchester constituency has about 119,000 residents, mixing left-leaning young professionals, white working-class Reform voters and a substantial Muslim community around Rusholme and Gorton. Andrew Gwynne retired after an 11-month suspension and had held the seat with a large majority in 2024. Reform UK intends to run the byelection as a referendum on the government and Starmer.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]