From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv
On 2026-06-19 11:29 a.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
The UK had 3 by-elections yesterday to replace members of Parliament who
had stepped down and one of them was in Makerfield, England. The mayor
of Manchester, Andy Burnham, won the seat quite handily with 54% of the
vote; his closest challenger was a representative of the Reform Party
but he was well back. The other parties got almost no votes at all.
This was quite remarkable. Six weeks ago, Andy Burnham's party, Labour,
was badly mauled in local elections by Reform, not winning a single
seat, in a constituency that had been a Labour stronghold for over a
century. But Burnham apparently did it by campaigning as himself, rather
than as the Labour candidate. Apparently, his affiliation with the
Labour Party was simply not mentioned because Labour is so reviled right
now, even in areas that have had only Labour seat-holders for literally
decades.
The vacancy was specifically for Burnham's election so that he could challenge Starmer in a leadership fight within Labour. I think everybody
in that constituency was very well aware that they were a key part of
the process in choosing the next prime minister. And Burnham "running as himself" was to maintain his nationwide reputation, not just within the constituency.
. . .
Andy Burnham is closer to the far left of the party than Starmer so is
very likely to win the leadership of the party when he mounts his
challenge. IF Burnham wins that challenge he becomes Party leader of the
largest party in Parliament and that makes him Prime Minister
automatically. (Unfortunately, he's NOT required to call for a new
election so the public can confirm that they are okay with him being
PM.) This would seem to guarantee that Britain will slide even further
left than it has under Starmer.
I don't know. Being on the left doesn't preclude one from being a
practical politician. What if Labour were to resume representing the
working class, as opposed to whoever the fuck they think they are
currently trying to appeal to? This is analogous to our discussion that
to be an elected official in the Green Party doesn't mean practical
politics on behalf of environmental causes.
I've heard analyses that say Labour has utterly abandoned the working
class and really only concerns itself with winning the favour of the
elites who have prestigious dinner parties in North London. That sounds
like a bit of an oversimplification but there's no doubt that Energy
Minister Ed Milliband has made every conceivable effort to play to the
climate zealots by establishing regulations prohibiting the construction
of new nuclear power stations and utterly forbidding Britain from
accessing North Sea oil and gas, which surely pleases those elites. It's
also had the effect of putting serious brakes on industry since Britain
has the most expensive energy in Europe and Milliband only permits
"green" energy. Britain is essentially de-industrializing which surely antagonizes the working class that used to depend on industry for jobs.
The working class in particular is also appalled by the state of
Britain's defenses. For all their activism on behalf of unions, the
working class is also famously patriotic and the utter failure of the
last several British governments to maintain a strong military has upset
them. It's clear from the election results since Labour won in 2024 that
a lot of the Labour base has moved on, some to the Greens but more to
Reform.
Starmer could have done a lot to help himself in the past couple of
years by keeping his campaign promises to defend the borders because
pretty much EVERYONE is upset about open borders but his own far left
MPs have apparently made that impossible: too many of them love open
borders and the rest of the country can just go pound sand.
Today, I've seen predictions that Starmer may very resign in the next
couple of days if he assesses his support within his caucus and sees
that he hasn't a reasonable chance of winning a leadership contest.
Friends that have been interviewed insist that he would fight in a
leadership contest regardless of the outlook.
--
Rhino
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2