Given how much Brits have turned against Brexit; now 29% say it was right, 58% wrong; Peter Kellner estimates even in heavily leave Makerfield it would be a tie, but that doesn’t mean pledging to rejoin quickly should be any Labour candidate there’s pledge open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

Much to enjoy about this, but I think the 'you used to be there' hand gesture is my favourite and even more enjoyable than the original 'well, if you're gonna set me up' response.

Champions League final will not be free to watch in UK for first time in modern era - this is very poor, & I’m surprised at least the Champions final is not an event ringfenced for free broadcast! www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Thames Water rescue deal threatened by uncertainty over next prime minister - not bothered by this; as the article says, far better let it slop into Special Measures then National Ownership, as advocated by Andy Burnham, Tribune & many others! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Very impressive & convincing video from Andy Burnham, launching his campaign for Makerfield & for Britain, linking his roots, sense of place, that place in south Lancashire, mid-way btwn Liverpool & Manchester, to what he’s achieved in the latter, & taking it to the rest of UK x.com/AndyBurnhamG...

One sure-fire vote-winner.

Interesting but believable poll by Survation of Labour Party members, & analysis by Pater Kellner, indicating if Andy Burnham wins Makerfield byelection (big if!), he’ll inevitably become the next PM. I had worried Southern members were not so enthusiastic for him! open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

One amusing byproduct of the Labour leadership candidates advocating the UK returning to Europe is that Farage will be forced back onto what is now, for obvious reasons, his least favourite subject: Brexit. Let’s see him forced to defend it in every interview.

This tweet and the replies are working too hard in my view. The Green vote will go down to the bare bones, not because of Andy’s appeal (tho you can’t argue with the polls on this IMV) but just because it’s really clear they aren’t the Reform challenger.

Interesting analysis at the end of Channel 4 News, especially the idea that picking Makerfield is a deliberate full frontal attack on Reform, as a demonstration of potency, by Andy Burnham!

Lots of people fairly saying that Makerfield will be a tough seat for Burnham, but the upside is that if he beats Reform he’ll hammer home the point to MPs that he can defeat Farage. May have a significant impact on any leadership contest

Josh Simons, 32, one of the youngest MPs to resign. That is a much tougher constituency than I would have anticipated

The fact that Keir Starmer has drafted Morgan McSweeney back in to save him has to be funniest part of all of this. Truly committed to never learning a single lesson you have to give it to him

I said weeks ago I thought Josh Simons might stand down & trigger a by-election in Makerfield, but due to whiff of scandal from his Labour Together time, not for Andy Burnham, though would be good for him, as he lives very close. Since then, though, Reform won every council seat in recent elections!

BREAKING: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage bought a £1.4 million property in cash shortly after receiving a £5m personal gift from billionaire donor Christopher Harborne, according to property records seen by Sky News.

I wonder who would make a good opponent to Farage if it comes to a byelection (assuming the Parliamentary Commissioner finds him guilty, which looks highly likely, & recommends suspension enough to trigger a recall)? I’d have thought a single Martin Bell-like non-party figure

Meanwhile, Farage is facing a formal investigation by the standards watchdog over £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne; rules require MPs declare any potentially relevant gifts or donations received in 12 months before entering parliament. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Good & monumental news; Angela Rayner has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs, @pippacrerar.bsky.social in the Guardian reveals, paving the way for a potential leadership bid as Keir Starmer’s grip on power unravels: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Good timing. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Must we keep holding our politicians to such impossible standards?

Good & monumental news that Angela Rayner has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs, @pippacrerar.bsky.social in the Guardian reveals, paving a way for a potential leadership bid as Keir Starmer’s grip on power unravels www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’m somewhat sad, but not totally distraught, that the proposed Camden Highline has been scrapped, & I live locally, so would’ve benefitted personally. But I’d probably prefer the disused former tracks, which are right alongside the active Mildmay Overground Line… www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Great by Rafael Behr: Labour needs a battle of ideas now, not a scramble to snatch the keys to No 10, notwithstanding obstinacy of Starmer’s response &: “it doesn’t really matter whether voter contempt for its leader is unfair if it is also irreparable” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

*sighs heavily* Almost every "Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor" event at UKReiif is just another opportunity for Cambridge to self promote, despite their appalling record of delivery. Once again, the entire project will be a failure if it ONLY focuses on Cambridge.

Extracting land values to build a city with hundreds of thousands of affordable homes with trees and green spaces. What a novel idea, I think, as I look out of the restaurant window.

This is a terrible and deliberately divisive piece of reporting by the Times. Somewhere near the bottom of the article, they admit that actually Muslims prioritise the cost of living above Gaza. It's not even close - cost of living was prioritised by 50%, Gaza by 25% www.thetimes.com/article/5c7c...

Very much this 👇

The fascinating thing here is that I think the US objection is to paying for other people. They would rather pay much more so long as it’s only themselves who benefit.

I don’t want Wes Streeting to be the next leader & PM - I’m unashamedly #TeamStarmer! But I wouldn’t despair, Wes is VERY good at presentation, would be an improvement on Keir. However I think his best prospect would be in 5 or so years time, as successor to PM Andy Burnham

Labour must offer more than ‘better managed decline’ on economy, MPs urge - good to see thoughtful Labour MPs, both Tribune’s Louise Haigh & Yuan Yang here, & Growth Group’s Chris Curtis elsewhere, offering serious, realistic, but transformative good ideas www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Voters of Britain, what have you done, what were you thinking?!? Already, after less than a week, an increasingly long list of both Reform UK & Green councillors have had to resign/been expelled for long-standing, blatant, horrible racism being revealed! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"One potential outcome, then, is a more divided, discontented and unstable politics that renders post-Brexit Britain ungovernable for a period of time at least."

Chris is right, and in addition, these maps actually *understate* how bad the local elections were!

There are various factors but Brexit and its aftermath is the key. It is not a coincidence that Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland all now have governments led by parties that want to leave the UK. England is divided five ways and we will have 7 prime ministers in a decade

Downing Street sources have tonight said the Prime Minister plans to come out fighting. "If necessary, he is prepared to give another speech about his dad."

The main job of a prime minister is to set the course. To guide the ship. To let everyone on board know where they are going. That's what Starmer has failed fundamentally to do.

I think Andy Burnham should lobby the General Synod to pass a Measure appointing him as Archbishop of Canterbury and then become PM from the Lords Spiritual.

Brilliant question by @evanhd.bsky.social on BBCR4 PM when cabinet minister Steve Reed said Labour shouldn’t copy the last Tory govt., constantly changing who’s PM; should they have stuck with Liz Truss rather than switching to Rishi Sunak then, or Johnson before Truss?

This is from 2020!

Two Reform Councillors had died before they were elected. Five have quit because they never actually wanted to be Councillors. At least four have been fired because they are vile racists. One is complaining because he thought he'd be an MP. One was completely made up Clown party

Great piece by @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social - what on earth can Keir Starmer do? Not to stay to the next General Election, that’s impossible now, but to stay as PM for say another year, requires something dramatic in his speech on Monday like rejoining EU SM! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

One of the more prominent Your Party proxy candidates, the close Jeremy Corbyn ally Pamela Fitzpatrick, has won a seat on #Harrow Council as an Arise candidate (though not at the expense of Labour group leader David Perry, which I'm assuming was the plan).

I don’t think many Your Party proxies have been elected but the last Camden ward to declare, St Pancras & Somers Town, was 2 Lab and 1 Camden People’s Alliance - a group associated with Andrew Feinstein who polled 19 per cent against Keir Starmer in GE2024.

Of the Green results in London, Waltham Forest has most got my attention. We knew they were a significant force in Hackney, Lewisham, Lambeth but WF was a sudden and very dramatic flip. Labour had seemed organisationally strong in Walthamstow in particular and it was rated as a good council.

It's Keirover

this really does make me despair. this is a woman who has just got elected as a Reform councillor. she works for the NHS and wants to know “where the money is going”. it’s going on social care, babe

Looking in detail at local election results in Hackney & Haringey, I think may be EVEN WORSE for Labour than it seems from headline figures, as many of the surviving Labour councillors benefitted from Greens standing aside in electoral pacts with Far-Left Independents, who lost!

Speaking on R4, new Reform Essex councillor Peter Harris says the party will be looking (among other places) at the £43m spent on taxis to schools as part of wider efforts to "potentially reallocate some... funds to meet with our priorities." The bulk of that will be transport for Send pupils.