Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed the “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 24,927 of the votes, while the candidate for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party came second with 15,696 votes.
His victory means he will now be able to trigger or at least take part in a contest to replace Starmer, who is struggling with some of the worst popularity ratings of any leader. But the key question is when and how Burnham will do it.
“I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change,” Burnham said in his victory speech. “There will be no second chance.”
Burnham, a career politician who has expressed support for the nationalisation of key public services and criticised what he called four decades of failed neoliberal economics, has said he would seek to replace Starmer and change politics.
Polls show Burnham, 56, is Labour’s most popular politician who would win a months-long leadership contest decided by party members, while some Labour lawmakers hope Starmer could be persuaded to hand over power to avoid a damaging contest.
Two years after winning a landslide national election, Starmer, 63, is one of the least popular British prime ministers since polling records began after scandals, policy U-turns and accusations of indecision have derailed the delivery of the change he once promised.
About a quarter of Starmer’s lawmakers have called for him to quit since his party suffered heavy losses in local elections last month, while senior colleagues, including the defence and health minister, resigned in recent weeks over his leadership.
A defiant Starmer said this week he would stand in any leadership contest and issued a warning to his party about the potential “chaos” of a potentially bitter and divisive leadership election.
Another of Starmer’s main rivals, former health minister Wes Streeting, said this week he would force a contest soon unless the prime minister announced when he would stand down.
Under Labour rules, it would take 20 percent of the parliamentary party, or 81 lawmakers, to announce they were backing a single candidate to trigger a leadership challenge. (Reuters)