Here’s the lesson of the Andy Burnham saga: Labour needs a new leader – fast | Polly Toynbee

The Guardian OpinionEditor

January 26, 2026 | 5:18 PM•1 min read

Originally published on The Guardian Opinion

Here’s the lesson of the Andy Burnham saga: Labour needs a new leader – fast | Polly Toynbee

Keir Starmer’s dismal decision to block the Greater Manchester mayor has bought him time, but it won’t change his fate

Labour’s impulse for political self-harm defies belief. It is as if some enemy within guides it unerringly along the wrong strategic path. Declaring war on Andy Burnham anoints him as a northern martyr and hero, and casts Keir Starmer as a coward. Many opposed Burnham throwing down the gauntlet for all the problems it would have caused if he won. If he had run, and won, Starmer would have a choice: squeeze him python-tight within the fold, or confront any leadership manoeuvring head on. Instead, before he could show any strength, he funked it, using evasive proceduralism to block his rival from the byelection in Gorton and Denton.

What timing for this decision! Starmer, along with his chancellor, business secretary and other chief allies are due to depart for China on Tuesday: his absence from PMQs, from the weekly parliamentary Labour party meeting and from TV studios is a blunder.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist