A Jewish Labour MP has told the JC that she thought it was “madness” that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was prevented by her party’s governing body from standing as a parliamentary candidate in an upcoming by-election.
Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols was astounded by the National Executive Committee’s (NEC) decision not to permit Burnham put himself forward to be selected as the candidate for the Greater Manchester constituency of Denton and Gorton.
The seat is now up for grabs after the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, a former health minister, from parliament on medical advice as a result of a long period of “ill health”.
Speaking as part of a wider interview with the JC to be published later this week, Nichols joked that she was biased in Burnham’s favour as he grew up in Culcheth in her constituency, but that the party ought to “want all of your best players on the pitch, to use a football analogy”.
“Given Andy's track record in Manchester and, obviously, his experience when he was previously an MP [from 2001 to 2017], with Labour's current polling position and everything else, you know, why wouldn't you want someone like that back in Westminster?”, she asked.
The Greater Manchester mayor said on Sunday that he was “disappointed” by the NEC’s decision, which the Labour Party told the BBC had been made to "avoid an unnecessary mayoral election, which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers' money and resources".
Concern had also been expressed within the party that it might lose such an election in Greater Manchester, which would automatically be triggered by Burnham leaving his role to become an MP.
However, Nichols insisted that there were more than enough capable people in Greater Manchester to succeed Burnham.
And she added that she thought it was “troubling” that people in the party were “talking about Manchester – one of our biggest strongholds” and didn’t believe it could comfortably retain the mayoralty.
"I think that's an admission of just how bad things have gotten in the last 18 months in terms of our position with the public”, Nichols added.
Challenged on the point that, should Burnham have returned to Westminster, he may have attempted a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Nichols retorted that the prime minister should be able to adequately deal with challenges from colleagues.
“If you're a strong leader, you shouldn't be bothered about there being other ambitious people around you”, she said, adding: “I think saying, ‘Do you know what? Let him come in, and if he does challenge me, I'll see off that challenge, and the project continues’ is actually a much stronger position than a bureaucratic manoeuvre to block someone who, may at some point make some sort of challenge, but ultimately, as I said, if you're if you're a strong enough leader, you shouldn't be bothered about that.”
Nichols, who was first elected in 2019, went on: “If we look at the most successful prime ministers that we've had throughout history, you've always had at least four or five people waiting in the wings who one day would like to have the top office.
"That's kind of a good thing, because it keeps them motivated to do a very good job at cabinet level, because they want to be seen to be a success in order to get that at some point in the future”.
“The best leaders, I think, encourage and develop other people around them to be able to step into their shoes when the time comes. They don't cut the knees out from anyone who looks like they're coming up behind them.”
However, she resisted calls for Starmer to be removed from office in favour of another candidate, saying: “With where we are as a country, internationally as well as domestically, there is an enormous risk, both in terms of security, national security, but also our economic security, if we're changing course. And I don't think that a lot of the speculation around leadership and all that sort of thing helps.”
Instead, she suggested that one way to help reverse the party’s polling decline would be “delivering on the things that people put us into office to do” as well as “having a better narrative for the public … so then you can see what it is we're trying to do and where we're trying to get to”.
But, while she has her disagreements with the leadership, she added that the main highlight of her time in Parliament was being present for the King’s Speech at the opening of Parliament, where the sovereign set out Labour’s plans for government. “To see the King there [in the House of Lords] reading out our legislative agenda was just such a huge moment”, which she said made her feel “weirdly emotional”.
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