Andy Burnham wins key U.K. poll, paving way for bid to challenge PM Keir Starmer
Veteran U.K. Labour politician Andy Burnham emphatically won a crunch by-election on Friday (June 19, 2026), securing a parliamentary seat and clearing the way for
Veteran U.K. Labour politician Andy Burnham emphatically won a crunch by-election on Friday (June 19, 2026), securing a parliamentary seat and clearing the way for a widely expected leadership challenge against beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Burnham, a former Minister who has been Greater Manchester Mayor since 2017, ensured his return to parliament by easily beating the hard-right Reform U.K. party’s candidate in the Makerfield constituency in northwest England. The 56-year-old longtime figure in centre-left Labour wants to replace Mr. Starmer as party leader and Prime Minister, and needed to win the high-stakes vote to be in a position to trigger such a contest. If Mr. Starmer does leave office this year, then Britain will get its seventh Prime Minister in 10 years. “I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change,” Mr. Burnham said in his acceptance speech after securing nearly 55 percent of the vote, beating Reform’s Robert Kenyon by more than 9,000 ballots. Turnout was a historically high 59%. “We must get it right,” he added, saying his victory could be a “turning point” for the country. Starmer, in office since July 2024, has been clinging to power since Labour suffered a drubbing in polls in England, Scotland and Wales last month.
Starmer congratulates rival Burnham Starmer congratulated Mr. Burnham for winning a key by-election, which paves the way for a widely expected leadership challenge against the beleaguered leader. “Congratulations, @AndyBurnhamGM, Labour’s new MP for Makerfield,” Mr. Starmer wrote on X. “Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.” ‘King of the North’ Starmer has been rocked by several policy U-turns and a scandal over his appointment of e Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as the U.K.’s Ambassador to Washington. Dozens of Labour MPs have called on Mr. Starmer to quit, and several Ministers have resigned, as national surveys suggest Reform is set to win the next general election, expected in 2029. But the 63-year-old e lawyer has refused to quit, insisting his landslide election victory over the Conservatives 23 months ago gave him a five-year mandate to govern. Amid growing impatience within the ruling party, now-former Labour MP Josh Simons stood down in Makerfield so that Burnham could try to return to parliament and run for leader. The unprecedented move thrust the little-known political district into the spotlight, handing its electorate of roughly 77,000 people an outsized say in influencing Starmer’s fate.
The BriefWire