Has Andy Burnham finally found a safe way back to the Commons so he can challenge Keir Starmer?
The Manchester mayor needs to return to Westminster as an MP before he can even think of replacing the stricken PM. Yet with Labour in such disarray, does a suitable seat exist?
It was reported at the weekend that Burnham had struck a deal with Andrew Gwynne, but the MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester recently said he wasn’t going anywhere.
A proposal to persuade St Helens South MP Marie Rimmer, 78, to retire has apparently been shelved. In a sign of the Government’s weakness in the polls, Rimmer’s 12,000 majority is no longer considered safe. So Bootle, held by Peter Dowd, is now favourite. At the last election Dowd, 68, had a 22,000 majority, with Reform second.
Could it be Burnham for Bootle and Dowd for a cosy seat in the Lords?
Left’s age-old hypocrisy
Good point from Conservative peer Daniel Hannan.
Amid renewed debate over the case of ‘Isis bride’ Shamima Begum, he notes that her Left-wing supporters highlight the fact that she and her fellow ‘child brides’ were only 15 or 16 when they left for Syria. They were therefore not able to make an adult decision.
Yet those same Left-wingers, he points out, now want 16-year-olds to get the vote in general elections.
A petition calling for the cancellation of a trial into puberty blockers on children as young as ten has attracted 76,000 signatures in three days. When it reaches 100,000, ministers will be forced to justify their support for the experiment. Please sign it.
Prediction of the week: Labour MP Tom Rutland interrupted Reform UK’s Lee Anderson during a speech about the BBC’s failings in Parliament, to ask how much he’s paid for his GB News show.
‘I am happy to declare… it is £100,000 a year and probably more than the hon. member will ever get paid for appearing on TV.’
In a speech at the Carlton Club, Liam Fox contrasted the styles of Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron. ‘When Mrs Thatcher became leader of the Opposition she wanted a makeover for the country. When David Cameron became leader he wanted a makeover for the Tory Party.’
Minister for roads and buses Simon Lightwood faced a wodge of transport questions in the Commons last week. ‘You wait for one bus question,’ he murmured, ‘and seven arrive at the same time…’
Scarper, your lordship!
While speeches in Parliament can often be boring, a captivating tale from Lord Blencathra.
It involved fellow peer John Stevens, a former Met police chief, who was on a fact-finding mission in a patrol car one night.
The two uniformed constables in the front received an urgent call and had to rush off on foot, telling Stevens to wait. Once they had gone, Stevens found his door wrenched open and a Geordie stuck his head in and said: ‘It’s OK, mate. You can scarper now – the rozzers have gone.’
Lapse of the week
Minister Baroness Chapman, facing Lords questions about the Venezuela crisis, was invited to comment on the admirable performance of our charge d’affaires there. But could she remember his name? Er, no. She ended up calling him ‘Colin in Caracas’. His full name is Colin Dick. Maybe just a blockage about his surname!
