{"id":874,"date":"2026-06-19T04:39:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T04:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=874"},"modified":"2026-06-19T04:39:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T04:39:25","slug":"labours-andy-burnham-wins-a-special-election-setting-up-a-showdown-with-starmer-to-lead-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=874","title":{"rendered":"Labour\u2019s Andy Burnham wins a special election, setting up a showdown with Starmer to lead Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON (AP) \u2014 Labour\u2019s Andy Burnham<\/span>, the current mayor of Greater Manchester, has won a special election for a seat in Parliament that puts him in a position to challenge embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/span> for leadership of the country.<\/p>\n

Read more Vance delays trip to Switzerland to lead new US talks with Iran on its nuclear program<\/a><\/p>\n

Burnham decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwest England over Rob Kenyon of the anti-immigration party Reform UK<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The victory announced early Friday cements the status of Burnham, a 56-year-old politician nicknamed the King of the North, as the top contender to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party and the country. Burnham won almost 55% of the 45,510 votes counted, over 9,000 more than Kenyon.<\/p>\n

Burnham\u2019s victory speech left no doubt that he wants to lead the country, and not just be one of the more than 400 Labour lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that politics isn\u2019t working,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone can feel that the country isn\u2019t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Burnham has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. He is pledging to repeat his signature brand of \u201cManchesterism\u201d on a national scale.<\/p>\n

Burnham said he would work to ensure that \u201cthe name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Labour had \u201ca final chance to change\u201d and win back voters\u2019 trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is a chance now, from this result tonight, to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Labour is in power but unpopular<\/h2>\n

Starmer\u2019s popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory<\/span> in July 2024.<\/p>\n

He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services<\/span> and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps<\/span>, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson<\/span>, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.<\/p>\n

Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party, and facing a rising Reform UK<\/span>, which consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls. The Nigel Farage<\/span> -led party has rapidly gained ground in post-industrial northern England areas like Makerfield, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London.<\/p>\n

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A dismal performance<\/span> by Labour in May\u2019s local elections spurred scores of lawmakers to demand Starmer\u2019s resignation. He has refused to budge, but senior colleagues are trying to force a change. <\/p>\n

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