Sir Keir StarmerΒ was secretly advised by “Machiavellian” allies linked toΒ Peter MandelsonΒ to resign immediately in a brutal bid to “screw over”Β Andy Burnham, the Express can reveal. The shocking revelation suggests the former Prime Minister was urged to blindside the Mayor of Greater Manchester the moment his leadership was challenged, denying his fierce rival time to launch a coordinated campaign.
Speaking on the Daily Expresso, host JJ Anisiobi revealed extraordinary new claims about what really went down in the battle for No 10. “My seniorΒ LabourΒ source told me that Starmer was advised, despite everything that’s happened […] by people adjacent toΒ MandelsonΒ to – once he was challenged for power by Burnham – get out as soon as possible,” Mr Anisiobi revealed. “Because that is going to absolutely screwΒ Andy BurnhamΒ over.”
A dramatic backstage plot by Sir Keir, which blindsided Andy Burnham, has been revealed by a senior Labour sourceΒ (Image: Daily Express)
Mr Burnham had been planning for a delayed transitionΒ (Image: Getty)
According to the claims, Mr Burnham had been planning for a delayed transition in the early autumn, hoping to buy crucial time to assemble his team and build a strong platform.
Mr Anisiobi explainedΒ Sir Keir’sΒ strategy: “Do not give him time to make a proper plan. Do not stay till September. Andy Burnham wanted Starmer [to stay] until September at least, so he had three months to come up with a proper plan.
“Starmer was advised: ‘No, if you want to screw him, you want to pay him back. You leave as soon as you can leave.'”
Months of internal feuding, poor polling results and humiliating local election defeats finally brought Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street to an end. Faced with an inevitable leadership challenge and a mutiny among his own MPs,Β Sir Keir pulled the plug on June 22, officially bowing out of No 10 on July 20.
Sir Keir announced his resignation on June 22 and left No 10 on July 20Β (Image: Getty)
His departure paved the way for Andy Burnham. The former Mayor of GreaterΒ ManchesterΒ had staged his return to Parliament just days earlier, winning the Makerfield by-election to position himself as the partyβs saviour. With Sir Keir quitting far earlier than his critics anticipated, Mr Burnham became leader of the Labour Party without any contest.
Upon meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace to formally accept the invitation to form a Government, Mr Burnham officially became Britain’s 59th prime minister. Speaking outsideΒ No 10, he declared his leadership a “circuit-breaker moment” for the nation, pledging to lower theΒ cost of livingΒ and decentralise political power across the country.
In reshaping his Cabinet, the Prime Minister appointed former Defence Secretary John Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary, while reappointingΒ Angela RaynerΒ as Housing Secretary and removing prominentΒ StarmerΒ loyalists likeΒ Rachel ReevesΒ and David Lammy.
