UK PM vows to fight for job after rival's stunning by-election win

Britain’s Labour government appears to be careering towards a messy mid-term leadership election, although a timeline for it remains uncertain.

On Friday, local time, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged to fight for his job – if it came to that – and at least two other MPs have confirmed they will challenge him.

His principal rival, Andy Burnham, stormed back into parliament after a near-decade absence this week via a by-election in the working class constituency of Makerfield.

It had been tipped to be a close race, but Mr Burnham swamped his main opponent, from the right-wing, the populist Reform UK party, winning more than 50 per cent of the vote.

On Friday morning, Mr Burnham gave a speech at a local football ground in the area, where 56-year-old told supporters they had backed his vision to change Britain’s politics.

“We have an opportunity to turn the tide, to make the country feel like it’s working again, to make people see that politics can make a positive difference, to make them feel hope again,” he said, to large cheers.

“This is the main thing I think we need in this country right now for people to feel a sense of hope, that there is something better to work towards on the horizon.

“This election result has opened up the possibility that we can now move forward together towards that future.”

Starmer vows to fight for prime ministership

Mr Burnham is known to voters, having previously been an MP for around 16 years from 2001, and being appointed to the cabinet by former PM Gordon Brown.

He left national politics in 2017 to run for Mayor of Greater Manchester and has served in the position since.

During his campaigning in Makerfield, he confirmed he planned to run for Sir Keir’s job, something that would require the support of more than 80 of the party’s MPs and several other procedural steps.

However, when asked by journalist about a timeline for a potential tilt at the country’s top job, Mr Burnham was evasive – quite literally. He ran away from the event and into a nearby building, refusing to take questions.

Mr Starmer was asked on Friday morning if he would contest a potential leadership election.

“If there is a contest … then yes, I will run, I will stand, and I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away,” he told journalists in London.

Labour’s former health secretary, Wes Streeting will also stand. He resigned last month amid concerns about the PM’s leadership.

Aside from the leadership wrangling, the result in Makerfield was considered promising for Labour, which has become deeply unpopular since rising to power less than two years ago.

Reform party records ‘disappointing’ result

Many analysts had predicted Reform UK – which is dominating many opinion polls in the country – to perform better.

On Friday, the party’s leader Nigel Farage described the Makerfield result as “disappointing”.

“It was a dramatic, emphatic win for Andy Burnham, with a vote share that nobody could quite see coming,” he said in a video posted to social media.

Reform UK’s candidate, Robert Kenyon, did not speak to journalists after losing.

Makerfield is considered among Labour’s strongholds in the UK. The area has backed the party for 120 years.

It’s made up of several semi-regional communities and former mining towns between near Wigan, in England’s north-west.

Joan, a local woman who backed Mr Burnham, told the ABC she was relieved after learning of the result.

“I was crying when I found out he won,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful and he is the only man who could pull it off, I am so thrilled to bits that he has won.”

Alison Stafford, a school governor who lives locally and volunteered for Mr Burnham’s campaign, said the new MP should run to replace Sir Keir.

“Keir Starmer is not a face we recognise in the heartlands of Labour, we don’t recognise sirs running the Labour Party so yeah absolutely definitely he should challenge,” the 56-year-old said.