{"id":402199,"date":"2026-02-01T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/402199\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:27:09","slug":"getting-rid-of-keir-is-the-only-way-to-save-us-what-labour-insiders-are-telling-dan-hodges-about-the-by-election-that-will-decide-starmers-fate-and-the-figure-waiting-in-the-wings-to-replace-hi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/402199\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Getting rid of Keir is the only way to save us’: What Labour insiders are telling DAN HODGES about the by-election that will decide Starmer’s fate… and the figure waiting-in-the-wings to replace him"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, US forces obliterated the south Vietnamese town of Ben Tre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brutal and bizarre bombardment made national news headlines because, up until that point, the Americans had been attempting to defend the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked the reason why, the local commander replied he believed it had been occupied by thousands of Viet-Cong infiltrators. \u2018So we had to destroy the town to save the town,\u2019 he infamously explained.<\/p>\n

Next month, the similarly embattled voters of Gorton and Denton will go to the polls in what will be one of the most significant by-elections this century. MPs of all parties agree the result will almost certainly decide the fate of Keir Starmer<\/a>, and with it the future of his government, and the nation.<\/p>\n

But in an eerie echo of Ben Tre, all three of the main parties that are in contention for the seat seem to be adopting the same, weirdly counter-intuitive strategy. In order to boost their fortunes, they are actively trying to lose it.<\/p>\n

The most blatant attempt at protecting the inhabitants of Gorton by cruelly sacrificing them is currently being prosecuted by Labour<\/a>. Last weekend Keir Starmer ordered his party\u2019s National Executive Committee to block Andy Burnham<\/a>, the candidate best placed to defend the seat from a rampaging Reform and the insurgent Greens. As one Greater Manchester MP observed: \u2018Andy can walk on water up here. He would have romped it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Which is precisely what the Prime Minister feared. Sir Keir\u2019s calculation was Burnham would win, underlining his popularity within Red Wall Britain, then promptly romp up Downing Street and unseat him. So he decided Gorton would have to be surrendered.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not simply inside No10 where these malign machinations are unfolding. Starmer\u2019s ministers and MPs also see an opportunity in throwing the good people of Gorton to the wolves.<\/p>\n

\"Next <\/p>\n

Next month, the embattled voters of Gorton and Denton will go to the polls in what will be one of the most significant by-elections this century. MPs of all parties agree the result will almost certainly decide the fate of Keir Starmer, and with it the future of his government, writes Dan Hodges<\/p>\n

As one of his backbenchers told me: \u2018I\u2019ll be up there knocking on doors, asking people to vote for us. But I\u2019ll be doing it with my fingers crossed. If we lose that seat, it\u2019s just one seat. It will mean we finally get rid of Keir. And getting rid of Keir is the only way we save the Government.\u2019<\/p>\n

Some of his colleagues believe others are making an even more self-serving calculation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last weekend, as Starmer and Burnham headed for their showdown, stories began to appear in the papers claiming Angela Rayner would make a high-profile intervention by insisting Manchester\u2019s Mayor should be allowed to run.<\/p>\n

It would have been a significant moment, partly because of her popularity among Labour activists, but also because of her own influence with trade unionists on Labour\u2019s ruling National Executive Committee.<\/p>\n

But the intervention never materialised. As one MP told me: \u2018Angela\u2019s playing the long game. She knows without Andy running we probably lose the seat. Then the party will move on Starmer. And she\u2019s the best placed to benefit from that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another MP, an ally of Burnham, said they had been \u2018flummoxed\u2019 by her failure to follow through on the promised endorsement of Burnham\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The most blatant attempt at protecting the inhabitants of Gorton by cruelly sacrificing them is currently being prosecuted by Labour, writes Dan Hodges. Last weekend Keir Starmer ordered his party\u2019s National Executive Committee to block Andy Burnham’s candidacy<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not really all that complicated. For a large number of Labour MPs, the Ben Tre calculation has been made.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To save their party, their party\u2019s Prime Minister must be destroyed. Meanwhile, among Labour\u2019s opponents a very different \u2013 though equally Machiavellian \u2013 calculation is being computed. Reform are currently the bookies\u2019 favourites to win Gorton. So the party\u2019s leadership seems to be doing everything it can to narrow the odds.<\/p>\n

First there was the selection of their own candidate. It seemed certain Nigel Farage would opt for a local standard-bearer who would embody his party\u2019s down-to-earth, working-class ethos.<\/p>\n

Instead he chose Matt Goodwin, a politics lecturer from St Albans who has recently been carving out a new career as a TV presenter on GB News.<\/p>\n

As one Labour MP who knows the seat well, and who is genuinely desperate to hold on to it, told me: \u2018Goodwin was completely the wrong selection for here.<\/p>\n

\u2018Reform clearly don\u2019t understand Manchester. He may play well on their social media accounts, but he\u2019s not going to go down well on our doorsteps.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then there was the attitude of Farage himself. On the day Goodwin was unveiled, he didn\u2019t even bother to show up for the press conference, choosing instead to jet off to Dubai, where he glad-handed some wealthy donors, and sat down for his own GB News interview with Emirati cabinet minister Reem Al Hashimy.<\/p>\n

\"Sir <\/p>\n

Sir Keir\u2019s calculation was Burnham would win, underlining his popularity within Red Wall Britain, then promptly romp up Downing Street and unseat him, writes Dan Hodges<\/p>\n

But one minister claimed to detect some method behind Farage\u2019s strange decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018He knows his best chance of getting into Downing Street is for Keir to stay there for a bit. Nigel\u2019s less popular among the voters than some people think. But he\u2019s nowhere near as unpopular as Keir is.\u2019<\/p>\n

A Reform source rejects the notion his party is trying to prop up our ailing PM. But they concede \u2018if we don\u2019t win it won\u2019t be a disaster. We\u2019ll give it everything we\u2019ve got. But Gorton has never been near the top of our target list. And if Starmer staggers on that\u2019s fine by us.\u2019<\/p>\n

And then there are the other Gorton insurrectionists, the Greens. Again, there was speculation the party\u2019s leader Zack Polanski would use the high-profile by-election to further boost his burgeoning profile, and potentially open the door to a dramatic \u2013 and narrative-changing \u2013 entry to Westminster. But he stood back in favour of Hannah Spencer, a local, but hitherto unknown, boiler fitter.<\/p>\n

To be fair, Spencer has a good biography, and a local savvy that will cause problems for her opponents. But again, some observers see some high \u2013 or low \u2013 politicking behind Polanski\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n

\u2018He wants to cut a deal with us,\u2019 one Labour MP told me, \u2018and to do that he needs to get rid of Starmer. And what\u2019s more likely to bring Keir down? Losing to a nice, fluffy Green? Or losing to nasty, populist Reform?\u2019<\/p>\n

The reality is that any sort of defeat will almost certainly prove terminal for Starmer.<\/p>\n

And some people within Labour believe a loss to the Greens would be even more catastrophic, because it would punch a gaping hole in the party\u2019s wafer-thin Left flank.<\/p>\n

But whatever the outcome, this is not going to be just another by-election. The result in Gorton will reverberate around British politics for years, if not decades.<\/p>\n

Which is why strategists in all the main parties are coming to an increasingly unpalatable conclusion. To save the people of the village, they may have to bring fire and destruction down upon their heads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, US forces obliterated the south Vietnamese town of Ben…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[97,2318,59,57,58,420,1634,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-402199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-dailymail","tag-debate","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-keir-starmer","tag-labour","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402199","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=402199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}