{"id":393649,"date":"2026-01-27T19:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393649\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:17:08","slug":"burnham-accuses-no-10-sources-of-lying-about-byelection-decision-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/393649\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham accuses No 10 sources of lying about byelection decision | Andy Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Labour party\u2019s civil war over the Gorton and Denton byelection has intensified after Andy Burnham<\/a> accused Downing Street sources of lying about his decision to apply to stand in the Manchester seat.<\/p>\n

The Manchester mayor was reacting to suggestions by unnamed Keir Starmer allies that he had been told \u201cin no uncertain terms\u201d that any request to the NEC committee to put his name forward for the byelection would be refused.<\/p>\n

Responding to a post on X by ITV\u2019s political editor, Robert Peston, which suggested sources close to the PM therefore saw Burnham\u2019s move to stand as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer, Burnham wrote: \u201cThis is simply untrue.\u201d Peston then sent a follow-up message saying a second source had backed up Burnham\u2019s version of events, adding that Burnham was \u201cseeking an urgent call with No 10 about the briefing\u201d.<\/p>\n

A No 10 spokesperson said it was not true that anyone close to Starmer had told Burnham the NEC would refuse his application. They said: \u201cNo one in Number 10 told Andy Burnham<\/a> not to apply to the NEC for permission to stand or gave any indication to him which sought to prejudge the NEC officers\u2019 deliberation or decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham later told ITV News that he had spent \u201cthe whole weekend having conversations with people in No 10, people in senior positions in the party, to discuss the pros and cons\u201d but he had not been told his application would be blocked. \u201cThe NEC is meant to be an independent body, so how could somebody say it\u2019s definitely going to be blocked if they are an independent body,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it doesn\u2019t stack up what they are saying and it\u2019s simply untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, the only person to support Burnham\u2019s case in the NEC vote which blocked his candidacy on Sunday<\/a>, made a plea for peace. \u201cThe briefings have got to stop,\u201d she told ITV Granada. \u201cWe\u2019re one Labour team here. We\u2019ve got one objective in mind, that is to change the country and \u2026 we all have to work as one team to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to all constituents in Gorton and Denton that will arrive on Wednesday, Powell urges voters not to stay at home, billing the byelection as a straight fight between Labour<\/a> and Reform. \u201cNo one else is in this race, so sitting it out or planning a protest vote will not stop Reform \u2013 it will help them,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

About 50 Labour MPs signed a letter objecting to the decision to block Burnham from standing in the 26 February byelection, telling the prime minister the move was a \u201creal gift\u201d to Reform. YouGov polling released on Tuesday suggests 30% of Britons think Burnham would do a better job as PM than Starmer, and 12% think he would be worse.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the battle for Gorton and Denton \u2013 a seat Labour won with a little over 50% of the vote in 2024 \u2013 has begun in earnest. Reform UK<\/a> unveiled Matthew Goodwin, a hard-right activist who has previously claimed that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British, as the party\u2019s candidate in the demographically diverse seat<\/a> in south-east Manchester. Powell said the choice of Goodwin showed Reform were offering \u201cdivision, animosity and hatred\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reform UK was earlier mocked by rival MPs, after one of the party\u2019s MPs, Lee Anderson, posted a picture on social media of himself and activists campaigning for the seat in the wrong constituency.<\/p>\n

Noting that Anderson was standing outside a hotel in her neighbouring Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner told the Daily Mirror: \u201cFarage\u2019s Reform can\u2019t even find the Gorton and Denton constituency on a map. Perhaps it\u2019s because they\u2019re too busy filling their party full of former Tories who failed the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speculation about who will contest the seat for Labour continues, with interviews continuing on Tuesday and a selection expected on Saturday. On Monday night, the Labour leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, ruled herself out of the running, while \u2013 according to Roch Valley Radio<\/a> \u2013 the leader of Bury council, Eamonn O\u2019Brien, had applied to be selected.<\/p>\n

As well as a muscular campaign from Reform, Labour will also face competition from a re-energised Green party, with officials arguing they have a real chance of victory<\/a> after Burnham was barred from the race. Local party members are yet to decide on a candidate, but Hannah Spencer, leader of the Green group on Trafford council, is likely to be in the running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Labour party\u2019s civil war over the Gorton and Denton byelection has intensified after Andy Burnham accused Downing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-393649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}