Burnham is blocked - What are the consequences?
Rock & Roll Politics with Steve Richards
Podmasters
4.7 • 909 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Predictably Keir Starmer has blocked Andy Burnham from standing in the forthcoming by-election. Has Labour had enough of this unique style of party management where those seen as to the left of Starmer and Morgan McSweeney, or a leadership ’threat’, are crushed, briefed against, expelled, suspended or blocked? Or was this Starmer’s only available route?Â
Rock & Roll Politics is live at the main hall in Kings Place on February 11th, where we will have the chance to delve even deeper - and have some laughs as well…hopefully. Tickets here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics with me, Steve Richards. |
| 0:16.6 | Thank you for tuning in. |
| 0:18.3 | We've got, as ever, a lot to cram in in our time together. |
| 0:21.7 | I will be reflecting on the context and consequences of Kier Stama's decision to use the machinery |
| 0:30.5 | in his control to block Andy Burnham from standing in the by-election. And some questions have already begun from you |
| 0:39.2 | to pour in on this, and they differ. And so we'll have a few of those. Just a reminder, |
| 0:45.8 | on February the 11th, rock and roll politics is live at King's Place. And I suspect the immediate |
| 0:53.6 | consequences of the events of recent days will be still being |
| 0:58.8 | played out along with who knows what else and so do come along because we will have to make |
| 1:05.8 | sense of it all as we always do on these nights and and have some fun too. Fun? |
| 1:11.8 | In the context of all that's going on. |
| 1:13.9 | Yeah, fun. |
| 1:15.4 | Anyway, the tickets are on the King's Place website. |
| 1:19.5 | Now, the Burnham saga so far. |
| 1:23.5 | Obviously, if you zoom in, as many have done, and I know a lot of you have done, you can see |
| 1:31.2 | the dilemmas that Stama faced, as leaders sometimes do. They have to take a decision. |
| 1:39.7 | Either route presents problems, and they have no choice. There's no easy way through. And that was the |
| 1:47.2 | situation that Stama faced in terms of Andy Burnham wanting to stand for the by-election. And you can |
| 1:55.8 | see why he took the decision he did. It means that part of the, what he calls the psycho drama, |
| 2:05.7 | will not take place in one specific form. Burnham fighting, and I suspect winning a by-election |
| 2:13.9 | returning to the commons, where the media will be in a frenzy of excitement, |
| 2:20.9 | as they would have been during the by-election. And nor will there be this contest for the mayor |
... |
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