Labour’s new chair has claimed the party’s MPs are frustrated with Andy Burnham’s leadership manoeuvrings ahead of the party’s annual conference this weekend.
As she called for unity, Anna Turley said Labour MPs questioned the Greater Manchester mayor’s “motivations” a day after Keir Starmer attacked his economic policies and compared him to Liz Truss. Chancellor Rachel Reeves also hit out at his fiscal policy suggestions late on Friday.
The Labour infighting, which has been bubbling for weeks, erupted in public after Mr Burnham said Labour MPs had privately urged him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the party leadership.
Speculation about Mr Starmer’s future, as his party trails Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the polls and is expected to have to raise taxes in November’s Budget, is expected to dominate the event in Liverpool.
Ms Turley, who was appointed by Sir Keir earlier this month, acknowledged there had been a “challenging couple of weeks” for the leadership.
Asked about Mr Burnham, she said he was doing “a great job” in Manchester. She said pointedly that he had “made commitments to the people” of the city, adding: “I think we need a party that’s united.”
She told the PA news agency: “If the polls aren’t looking great, people always get a little bit wobbly. Politics is littered with ambition. But the reality is we’ve got a very strong prime minister with a strong mandate and a strong vision that I think everyone’s going to be really looking forward to hearing next week.”
Asked about Mr Burnham revelation that MPs had contacted him about running for the party leadership, Ms Turley said: “There’s an awful lot of MPs who are frustrated at that and actually dislike that and wonder what the motivations are for that.
“Labour MPs want this government to be a success. They want to see the vision from the prime minister, and they want us to build on the progress we’ve made in the last year and to lead into a second term. That’s what Labour MPs will want.
“That’s not what I hear, what Andy is saying. What I hear is people saying: ‘Right, come on, let’s get together, let’s step up, let’s set out our vision, let’s move into this phase of delivery and making sure that we deliver on the vision that we’ve got for this country: more money in people’s pockets, better public services, a country that’s confident and secure.’”
She also said the conference comes at the “perfect time” for the government to set out what it is doing to deliver on the promises it has made to the public.
Delegates travel to Liverpool just weeks after the resignation of deputy leader Angela Rayner over her taxes and the sacking of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, just as “phase two” of Sir Keir’s relaunched leadership kicked off.
“I think (this is) a huge opportunity for the prime minister to really set out his vision now for the country,” Ms Turley said. “Obviously we’ve had quite a challenging couple of weeks. I don’t think anyone would deny that.
“And I think this has come at a perfect time for us to really speak to the country, instead of to ourselves, and to set out the vision that he’s got here.”
Redcar MP Ms Turley said the party had to appeal to communities which felt they had been “neglected” by Westminster.
“They feel that they haven’t been invested in and that’s what they’re angry about. And of course we came in promising change, but it’s very, very hard to deliver the kind of instant change that people want to see within a year,” she said.
“We fixed the foundations in our first year and now we’ve got to make sure that we deliver so that people can see and feel that tangible change in their pockets and in their communities around them, and show them there are solutions and there is a way to get real, positive change for people.”
