Laura Kuenssberg Tears Into 'Absolute Car Crash' Surrounding Labour Amid Andy Burnham Row

Laura Kuenssberg told home secretary Shabana Mahmood that the chaos around Andy Burnham’s future is on the cusp of turning into an “absolute car crash”.

Burnham currently sits as Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor but has just thrown his hat into the ring to be the party’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton seat after Andrew Gwynne resigned.

If Burnham were to become an MP, Keir Starmer’s allies fear that he would pose a major threat to his leadership – though the mayor insists he would only be in Westminster to support the government.

Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), will be voting on whether Burnham will be allowed in their long-list of candidates for the by-election today.

There is speculation that the prime minister’s supporters will deliberately block Burnham so he does not even have a chance of getting to Westminster.

Mahmood, the NEC chair, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg today: “It’s normal practice for selection processes to be done by NEC officers.”

But the presenter replied: “The problem is to the critics of Keir Starmer, restricting it to an inner core, just makes it looking a stitch-up.

“You might set light to the whole thing. You’ve already got members of he cabinet saying ‘let him run’, you’ve got Labour activists, Labour MPs, saying ‘let him run’.

“If Keir Starmer and you and his other allies stop that happening, you’re going to end up with an absolute car crash, aren’t you? People are already raging about this moment.”

“Well, look, people have strong views,” Mahmood replied. “It’s not unusual in internal Labour Party politics for there to occasionally be big rows over selections.”

She continued: “It’s for the NEC officers to consider the issues in the round. There will be strong views in the room later today.

“I do appreciate how this looks to the country, by the way.”

“What, madness?” Kuenssberg cut in.

Mahmood said: “Labour governments don’t come around very often. And it is our job to make our case to the country every day to bring change to our country every single day, and to make the most of the great privilege of being the government of our country.”

When Kuenssberg put it to Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti later on the programme that the whole series of events “looked like a car crash”, she replied: “It doesn’t need to be.

“He should be allowed to put himself to the members of Gorton and Denton, like any other candidates.

“I think it would be a really bad look, frankly, if the third London Labour leadership in a row was seen to be blocking a very popular Manchester mayor in a Manchester seat when the big threat is the populist far-right, it’s Reform.

“He may well be the candidate most likely to defeat Reform. We don’t want a soap opera.”