Now is the moment of “maximum danger” for Sir Keir Starmer, Harriet Harman has warned.
The Labour peer told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast “everyone really wants Keir Starmer to succeed” after Greater Manchester’s Labour mayor, Andy Burnham, said Labour MPs have been urging him to challenge Sir Keir’s premiership.
Baroness Harman, who was a Labour MP for 42 years, said this was always “going to be the most difficult time” because people are “fed up” with hearing it is the Tories’ fault, “yet they’re not feeling better off”.
“So this was always going to be the moment of maximum danger,” she said.
“But I think that what people want is for Keir Starmer to succeed. And they don’t want, I think at this point, the turbulence of a leadership challenge.”
She said Mr Burnham, who was in Gordon Brown’s cabinet with her, is “not hiding his light under a bushel in any way, shape or form”.
But added: “I do not want the drama and chaos of a leadership election.
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Could Andy Burnham be a serious threat to Sir Keir Starmer?
“It’s like ‘this guy hasn’t done it, so we’re going to try somebody else’. You know, everybody really wants Keir Starmer to succeed.”
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Baroness Harman said she thinks the “anxiety” around Nigel Farage getting into Number 10 is “fuelling” the push for Mr Burnham to challenge Sir Keir.
“Keir Starmer would come out absolutely swinging,” she added.
But she admitted Mr Burnham is “something of a vote whisperer” and is a very different person from when he served in Gordon Brown’s cabinet with her.
She said: “He has actually grown in that position [as mayor] and is something of a vote whisperer.
“Every single ward which was up for contest in the mayoralty of Greater Manchester, he won, including the die-hard Tory areas.
“So you know, he has grown, and it’s good to see people grow in politics.”
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This week, Mr Burnham said Labour MPs had contacted him over the summer when asked if they had encouraged him to try to challenge Sir Keir.
He told The Telegraph: “I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened.
“But as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”
He added: “I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn’t it?”
As he is not currently an MP, Mr Burnham would have to win a by-election to be able to challenge Sir Keir.
There are none on the horizon, yet.
