Jeremy Corbyn said the debate over a possible challenge between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham was focused on personalities rather than policy, and he called that “very strange”. He said the discussion had become a media debate about who might win, while policy was missing.
Corbyn told Sky News that “all of the media are very focused on a debate between the personalities, and no stage does any policy debate actually come into it, which I find very strange”. He also said he gets on well with Burnham, but disagrees with his economic policies.
Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham
Corbyn said Burnham seemed to be “accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us” and did not appear to be doing anything differently internationally. That leaves the discussion where Corbyn put it: on whether Burnham would offer a different programme, not just a different face.
The friction is that the public debate has moved ahead of the policy test Corbyn wants. Charlie Falconer said Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because everybody assumes Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win, and that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”.
Geraldine Coggins in Manchester
The same political pressure is playing out around Greater Manchester. Geraldine Coggins will represent the Green party in the election for the mayor of Greater Manchester, and she was announced as the first party candidate in the race to replace Burnham as mayor.
At a launch event in Manchester, Coggins said “people and planet over profits” and described the contest as a straight race between the Green party and Reform. She said, “Like Gorton and Denton, this is an election that we can win, and like Gorton and Denton, this is going to be a straight race between the Green party with our message of joy and hope and the toxic divisive politics of Reform”.
30 July and Labour
The mayoral election is scheduled for 30 July, with 2.1 million people registered to vote in the Greater Manchester contest. Corbyn’s comments, and the competing claims from Labour figures and the Green party, mean the debate is already moving between leadership speculation and a live local race.
Beccy Cooper said Burnham was “not the messiah” and that a government led by him would still be a Labour government and would “stick to the party’s manifesto”. Jess Phillips said Burnham had “proved his hypothesis” and had “earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour party”. The next test is whether the discussion stays about policy, or whether the leadership argument keeps being driven by personality and timing.
