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Corbyn criticises ‘strange’ lack of policy in leadership debate and says Burnham must offer real change – UK politics live | Politics
Lack of policy in leadership debate ‘very strange’ – Corbyn
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he felt the debate on the potential leadership battle between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham focused more on personality than politics, which he found “very strange”.
“All of the media are very focused on a debate between the personalities, and no stage does any policy debate actually come into it, which I find very strange,” he told Sky News.
Corbyn, who beat Burnham in 2015 for the Labour leadership, said he gets on well with the newly elected Makerfield MP but disagrees with his economic policies, which seemed to him “to be accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us and doesn’t appear to be doing anything, as I can see it, differently internationally”.
Key events
Corbyn criticised Burnham over his position on Gaza, an issue that has cost Labour support among some voters and driven others to back independent candidates or the Greens instead.
He added: “It seems to me that if there’s going to be a change, then there’s got to be some significant policy changes as well.
“The unpopularity of the government stems from the threats to welfare benefits, stems from the continuing austerity and is deeply unpopular for a lot of other policies, particularly its rather draconian attacks on rights of assembly and freedom of speech.
“So I think Burnham needs to come out with something that is a bit different.”
Lack of policy in leadership debate ‘very strange’ – Corbyn
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he felt the debate on the potential leadership battle between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham focused more on personality than politics, which he found “very strange”.
“All of the media are very focused on a debate between the personalities, and no stage does any policy debate actually come into it, which I find very strange,” he told Sky News.
Corbyn, who beat Burnham in 2015 for the Labour leadership, said he gets on well with the newly elected Makerfield MP but disagrees with his economic policies, which seemed to him “to be accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us and doesn’t appear to be doing anything, as I can see it, differently internationally”.
John Harris
Andy Burnham is closing in on Downing Street after a big win in the Makerfield byelection. John Harris and John Domokos take a deep dive into a place where people’s lives back up Burnham’s insistence that we’re living in an economy and society that need radical change – but they also find an infectious spirit of optimism
Comment: Burnham has shown that he can win. But can he govern?
Gaby Hinsliff
Having literally campaigned in poetry, the new Makerfield MP needs a summer of knuckling down to the small print, writes Gaby Hinsliff:
By the end, it had become less a byelection, more a mythical quest. Whoever could draw the sword from Makerfield’s stone – or more prosaically, beat Reform in a seat where it practically swept the board in last month’s local elections – would claim the divine right to rule the Labour party. And lo, on Friday morning, Andy Burnham became the chosen one.
He carries the magic shield of not being from Westminster – though that won’t last, obviously – plus the easy warmth with people that Keir Starmer lacks, and the rare ability to generate excitement in politics. Reform is beatable, and the sun shines brighter for knowing that. A third successive defeat for Nigel Farage in a winnable byelection, after losing Caerphilly to Plaid Cymru and Gorton and Denton to the Greens, suggests a trend, not a fluke.
Less obviously, Burnham’s good-natured campaign also helped the country see another side of places like Makerfield, beyond the day drinkers furnishing visiting journalists with blood-curdling quotes; a side where the Reform candidate’s sexist comments still hurt him and people with tough lives might still give a mainstream politician a chance. Another future is still possible. But only if Burnham shows he can genuinely govern as well as win.
For Starmer was a winner two summers ago, swept to victory on similarly heady but vague promises of change – and look at him now. The last loyalists began peeling away shortly after John Healey’s shock resignation as defence secretary, over yet another prime ministerial failure to take a decision. It’s over for Starmer, essentially. Barring a currently unlikely rush among Labour MPs to embrace Wes Streeting, the question now is how to bridge the gap until Burnham is ready. For turning the kind of post-industrial, leftwing populism that worked in Makerfield into a coherent national project will take some work.
Read on here:
A losing streak? Makerfield shows mounting dangers for Nigel Farage
From Restore and tactical voting to questions over that £5m gift, the Reform leader faces challenges on several fronts, writes senior political correspondent Peter Walker.
As those around Nigel Farage are fond of pointing out, Reform UK has now led in more than 300 consecutive national polls. When it comes to byelections, though, it is fair to say the party’s results are more mixed.
Yes, Robert Kenyon came second in Makerfield to a popular regional mayor backed by a Labour campaign so relentless that the main risk was annoying voters by knocking too often on their doors. Kenyon also increased his and Reform’s share of the vote from the 2024 general election.
This, though, was a seat so demographically Reform-friendly that some pundits warned Andy Burnham was taking a big risk using it as his vehicle for a return to Westminster. In that context, as Farage himself said on Friday morning, Makerfield was a disappointment.
The larger danger is that it could become a trend. Of the five byelections held since the general election in 2024, Reform has only won a single seat, last year in Runcorn and Helsby – and that by precisely six votes.
Read more of Peter’s analysis here:
Jessica Elgot
A pro-Starmer memo circulating among loyalist MPs shows the attack arguments the prime minister and his team would be likely to make in a leadership campaign.
The memo, seen by the Guardian, says: “[Burnham] hasn’t faced any real scrutiny yet. A true contest would expose him to questions that he hasn’t ever before had to answer and likely see his support wane as a result.”
It argues that in polling terms “the trajectory for AB has not been positive”, with his favourability dropping, and “the membership can change their view”.
The existence of a memo drafted by allies of Keir Starmer reveals that his preparations for a contest are under way but also underlines the risks of a wounding civil war within the party with each side trying to expose the other.
Read more:
Peter Walker
Reform UK is examining whether sexist comments by its candidate in the Makerfield byelection may have harmed the party’s chances, after Nigel Farage accepted the result had disappointed him.
The party’s examination of its defeat comes after Andy Burnham won 55% of the vote share in a poll that Reform hoped would be a tightly fought battle between the Labour leadership hopeful and its own candidate, Robert Kenyon, a local plumber.
Canvassers from different parties reported that voters highlighted sexist and lewd social media posts by Kenyon, which emerged during the campaign, with women in particular saying they were put off by them.
After Kenyon came more than 9,000 votes behind Burnham in Thursday’s vote, one Reform activist said the party had advised the candidate not to apologise for the comments. “That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised,” they said.
Read more:
When asked whether Starmer should compete in a leadership competition, Falconer said: “My advice, sadly, would be: don’t stand.
“The reason it would be ‘don’t stand’ is because if you stand, it is likely there would then be a difficult leadership battle in which the two leadership candidates would try to undermine each other.
“That would be bad for the country.”
Starmer has ‘absolutely no authority,’ says Labour peer
Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Keir Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Andy Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.
Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.
Beccy Cooper, Labour MP for Worthing West backing Andy Burnham, said he is “not the messiah” and insisted that “this doesn’t rest just on one person”.
Speaking to Times Radio, she argued that a Burnham-led government would “still be a Labour government” and would stick to the party’s manifesto because “that’s what people voted for”.
She said a leadership contest involving Keir Starmer “is not actually going to benefit our country or the party in the long term”, while adding that she does not “necessarily want a coronation” for Burnham and would like a new leader in place before the Labour conference in September.
Burnham has shown he can beat Reform and deserves chance to make his case for leadership, says Phillips
Jess Phillips, who quit as safeguarding minister last month, said Andy Burnham has “proved his hypothesis” that he could beat Reform in a constituency where many expected Reform to do very well.
“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour party.”
Birmingham Yardley MP, who previously backed Wes Streeting for the leadership position, said she was looking forward to Burnham arriving in Westminster on Monday and seeing prospective candidates of a leadership contest “setting out their stall”.
But she added: “It would be much better if this wasn’t protracted and didn’t go on for a long time.”
Morwenna Ferrier
‘Within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it’: illustrator on his ubiquitous image of Andy Burnham
It was shortly after Andy Burnham’s famously rousing speech outside the Manchester Central Library in October 2020 that Stanley Chow decided to draw him. Or rather his wife did.
“It was the pandemic and we were all so down in the dumps at that point,” says the illustrator, speaking from his home in the city this week. But I remember looking around and he had just moved everyone.
“He was already a good mayor, but at that point we all thought: ‘Oh shit, he’s really good.’ And then my wife goes: you should draw Andy.”
So he did, using his preferred medium, Adobe Illustrator. “I put it on Twitter and within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it.”
Burnham initially used the image for his Twitter handle, but it has since appeared on billboards, beer mats, mugs, aprons and record inlays, becoming a visual proxy for both his mayoral campaigns and more recent campaigning in Makerfield.
With his spot-on light scowl and navy/black attire, the image has become shorthand for Burnham’s anti-establishment sentiment. “There is no tie, no,” says Chow, 51.
After its initial use, Burnham said he was “grateful to Stan for making me look cooler than I am”.
Read more:
What will ‘change’ look like if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister?
Kiran Stacey
Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield sets up a battle for Downing Street. Allies of the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor want him to be installed as prime minister as quickly and painlessly as possible, while those close to Keir Starmer want the Labour leader to fight on.
If he does become prime minister, Burnham will be expected to deliver on the “change” he promised after his win on Thursday night. But what would that look like, and what policies would his government be likely to pursue?
The Guardian’s policy editor, Kiran Stacey, explains:
Starmer under pressure to agree to a timetable to relinquish power
Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure from cabinet ministers and MPs to avoid a bruising leadership battle and instead set a timetable to hand power to Andy Burnham, who won a resounding majority in the Makerfield byelection.
The prime minister pledged to fight to keep his job, but ministers loyal to Starmer have urged him to set out plans to step down over the weekend.
Weakened by collapsing poll numbers and a string of local election losses, one cabinet minister – who has not previously told the prime minister to go – said Starmer’s departure was now inevitable.
A leadership challenge requires the formal backing of at least 81 Labour MPs, but, as my colleagues Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason write in their report, one MP said they believed there were about 200 Labour MPs prepared, if necessary, to sign Burnham’s nomination papers.
Jessica and Rowena wrote:
Starmer called members of the cabinet on Friday afternoon to set out his determination to fight on. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, is said by sources to be among those who expressed concerns in a call on Friday.
At least two ministers, Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood, have previously suggested to Starmer that he should set out a timetable for his departure.
Other ministers are expected to press Starmer on whether fighting a leadership contest would be wise. Another cabinet source said: “Everyone thinks it is over and everyone wants it to be a dignified, orderly exit.”
Supporters of Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, who has said it is also his intention to challenge Starmer, are being urged by Burnham allies not to launch a competing bid and for the party to unite behind a single successor.
Read the full report here:
We’ll bring you the latest political updates throughout the day…
There will be tropical nights in some locations where overnight temperatures are expected to remain above 20C (68F).
This combination of hot days and very warm nights is likely to bring a range of impacts to people and infrastructure.
There is a risk to health, especially for elderly and vulnerable people.
The UK Health Health Security Agency has already issued separate amber and yellow heat health alerts across large swathes of England.
However, even in younger and healthier people there is a risk of health conditions such as sunstroke and heat exhaustion.
Delays and disruption to travel networks and power supplies are possible.
There is also the potential for scattered intense thunderstorms, especially for parts of England and Wales, which could pose an additional hazard.
A man was seen battering the door of a pizzeria as members of the public run away on Friday night.
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Key events
WICKET! Phillips c Bethell b Archer 3 (NZ 307-6)
I take it all back! Archer wins the duel, Bethell takes the catch at gully, Phillips has his first flop of the series and I’d like to congratulate Joe Root on his shrewd captaincy.
70th over: New Zealand 307-5 (Mitchell 59, Phillips 3) Root springs another surprise by bringing himself on. An off-spinner against two right-handers – why not Bethell, who moves the ball away from them? Mitchell may be licking his lips, and no sooner have I typed that than he plays a reverse sweep for four to reach fifty, 51 off 68 balls. He follows up with a dismissive cut for four and another reverse for four more. In between, to be fair, Root bowls a crafty arm ball that drifts past the outside edge. But all told that over was a gift to New Zealand.
Drinks: England better, NZ still in charge
69th over: New Zealand 295-5 (Mitchell 47, Phillips 3) Root responds to Phillips’ arrival by bringing back Archer. You can see why, but is it wise? He’s only been off for 20 minutes, and the second new ball is less than an hour away. Maybe it’s just for two overs. Archer duly hones his bouncer and dumps Phillips on his backside, where he spent much of Wednesday evening. And that’s drinks, with England much improved today – more orthodox, more accurate, more threatening – but NZ still leading by 395 runs. They could declare now and win by a street, unless Harry Brook goes bananas.
68th over: New Zealand 293-5 (Mitchell 46, Phillips 2) So here is Glenn Phillips, the batsman of the series, getting off the mark with a confident clip for two. I was at the Oval on Wednesday (many thanks to my son Dan) and Phillips was in a different class from the rest with his decisiveness, not to mention his courage in the face of Archer’s ferocity. If he’d been in the top five at Lord’s, New Zealand might now be closing in on a series win.
67th over: New Zealand 290-5 (Mitchell 46, Phillips 0) Root went for Sonny Baker rather than Fisher, preferring puppyish pace to seasoned precision. But he was wary with his field, posting only one slip. The ploy misfired at first as Baker found some bounce and Mitchell was able to ride it and guide the ball into the wide open space between slip and gully. But then Root, after a chat with Duckett, put himself at leg slip, and it worked a treat. A small triumph for Rew too.
Wicket! Blundell c Rew b Baker 16 (NZ 290-5)
The leg slip comes good! Blundell flicks a full ball off his toes, Root spills it, but Rew cleans up.
66th over: New Zealand 284-4 (Mitchell 41, Blundell 15) Two more singles off Tongue’s over. A Sky caption confirms that the ball has been moving more off the seam today than yesterday, so Matt Fisher could be effective.
65th over: New Zealand 282-4 (Mitchell 40, Blundell 14) Singles for both batters and when Archer tries a bouncer he bangs it in too short, so it sails away for four byes. England have already conceded more extras in this innings (16) than New Zealand did in the previous one (9), so the total score in that department so far is England 9, NZ 69.
64th over: New Zealand 274-4 (Mitchell 38, Blundell 12) Mitchell nudges a single, making that last factoid instantly obsolete. Tongue tries to york Blundell, who digs the ball out of his feet, then takes one on the hip bone and winces. Tongue tries the yorker again, and again it gives Blundell no bother. Root moves from slip to leg slip, a ploy he has surely over-used in this game. Keep it simple!
63rd over: New Zealand 273-4 (Mitchell 37, Blundell 12) The sun comes out as Archer continues. He dishes up his first freebie of the day, allowing Blundell to leg-glance for four. Blundell, always busy, even after a hard day’s standing up to the stumps, has raced into double figures and scored all the runs in this partnership.
62nd over: New Zealand 269-4 (Mitchell 37, Blundell 8) Tongue, not at his best in the first innings, is in the groove now. He keeps Mitchell quiet and collects a maiden.
“Looks like the weather at the Oval is on a par with us here in Fuerteventura where I’m enjoying my retirement on paradise island,” says Andy House. It’s all right for some. “No question that an awful chain of events has led to England fielding a team that has proved no match at the Oval for an excellent and battle hardened Kiwi side.
“Call me old fashioned, however but I cannot agree with the general Guardian stance that Stokes and Atkinson have been unfairly punished and that somehow the England team management have brought this crisis upon themselves.
“Actions have consequences and whilst none of us expect either the captain of the England team or his players to be saints, we do expect a certain level of responsibility and common sense from our millionaire elite cricketers not least after the debacle in Australia where I witnessed the final humiliation in Sydney.
“Truth to tell, Stokes and Atkinson thoroughly deserved to be dropped and they owe their team mates big time in the likely 3rd test decider after letting down their fellow players the management and the fans so badly.”
My stance, for what it’s worth, is not that Stokes and Atkinson were unfairly punished. It’s that their team-mates were unfairly punished. In a team sport, suspensions seldom make sense.
61st over: New Zealand 269-4 (Mitchell 37, Blundell 8) Jofra, bowling 87mph, finds the edge yet again as Blundell goes back and pokes with half a bat, but the ball drops short of Root at first slip. If only England had started like this on Thursday morning.
60th over: New Zealand 267-4 (Mitchell 37, Blundell 6) Blundell, who loves joining Mitchell to torment England, tucks Tongue for two and cover-drives for three, uppish but safe.
“Good morning.” says John Starbuck. “I was wondering if James Rew, unfortunately drafted in a bit too soon, should change his name to Roux, seeing it’s been something of a mixture so far.” Ha.
59th over: New Zealand 262-4 (Mitchell 37, Blundell 1) Classic Test bowling from Jofra, who eats left-handers for breakfast. He sauntered in, landed the ball on off stump and angled it away. This time Brook – back in his comfort zone at second slip, not first – took a comfortable catch. Archer then kept it tight to the right-handed Tom Blundell, and England nearly nabbed another wicket as Blundell took a silly single to Ben Duckett, whose throw was on target until it landed on an old pitch and turned into an off-cutter.
WICKET! Nicholls c Brook b Archer 121 (NZ 261-4)
Justice for Jofra! And redemption for Harry Brook.
58th over: New Zealand 261-3 (Nicholls 121, Mitchell 37) At the Vauxhall end, Root goes for experience in the form of Josh Tongue, who has played 11 Tests. He too starts strongly, finding bounce and movement. Henry Nicholls may have a hundred but he hasn’t got his eye in today, and he takes a blow or two to the fingers. But after having some treatment, he calmly dabs a single to get down the other end. He’s the Ollie Pope figure for NZ, the guy they’d already discarded, but they trusted him to replace Kane Williamson and he’s actually been (whisper it) an upgrade.
Dropped!
57th over: New Zealand 260-3 (Nicholls 120, Mitchell 37) You remember those pictures of Jofra howling with frustration last night? He’s already been doing it again. His first ball is a beauty, squaring up Daryl Mitchell and drawing the edge – which is dropped by Harry Brook at slip. Brook has had such a poor match, bringing one great shot when England needed him to be the senior pro. Archer beats Mitchell next ball, and has a shout for LBW against him (going down). Some of the blame belongs to Root, who started with only one slip, then moved himself back in there afterwards. Along the way, the batters calmly collect eight runs, four from that drop. It’s a cruel game.
The players are out there. Joe Root is chatting to Matt Fisher, whose batting gave England a glimmer of hope yesterday morning. And the ball is with Jofra Archer, who will come gliding in from the pavilion end.
England have also missed Ollie Pope. He was the odd-job man under Stokes, ready to take over as the captain or the keeper, and doing both jobs well enough to attract little comment. With hindsight, he would have been a better understudy for Jamie Smith here than poor James Rew. As would Jonny Bairstow.
On Sky they’re talking about … Ben Stokes. He’s been missed as a captain, standing at mid-off, exuding energy, bigging up the bowler with his belief. He’s been missed as a bowler: this morning, at 250 for three, he would be handing the ball to himself. And he’s even been missed as a batter. Scratchy as he has been recently, he can still stick around, as he showed in Australia. With the bat, Ben Stokes has turned into Ben Foakes – the designated driver in a team of drinkers. The whole package means that when he’s there, England have 12 or 13 players, and when he’s not, they have nine or ten.
If you’d like some action right away, there’s a World Cup match just starting in Southampton. It’s another episode in a long-running series: David v Goliath. Do join Megan Maurice to see if Babette de Leede’s bowlers can rattle Australia’s big names.
Preamble
Morning everyone, or should that be hello darkness, my old friend? For England supporters of a certain age, this match has been a flashback to the Eighties. First the management picked the wrong response to Ben Stokes’ and Gus Atkinson’s big night out, suspending them when Harry Brook had merely been fined for a worse offence, perhaps because the ECB was afraid of looking weak. Then, just as fortune favours the brave, so misfortune homed in on the faint-hearted.
England lost the Player of the Match from Lord’s, Ollie Robinson, to injury and their wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith, to the birth of his second child. Suddenly the team had no spine – no captain, no keeper, no new-ball pair. The selectors put their faith in what Micky Stewart, whose name is on the pavilion at the Oval, once called “a lot of inexperience”. Joe Root found himself not so much the stand-in captain as the babysitter.
The kids were all right at first, then fell apart as Root tried too hard to play the Stokes way and get funky with his fields. The New Zealanders, who are known on the circuit as nice guys, have been far more orthodox and more efficient. By the end of yesterday the crowd was witnessing an unprecedented spectacle: the England Lions being fed to the Christians.
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