(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/WQ1V4rRsnhI) Andy Burnham’s win in the Makerfield by-election, historic by any standards, means all bets are off. Keir Starmer still seems determined not to go down without a fight. But his options are narrowing by the day. ‘In office but not in power.’ That barb, hurled at a one-time Tory Prime Minister in his Chancellor’s oft-quoted resignation speech is as relevant today as it was back then. Even Starmer’s closest allies accept that

(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/8mKmxaiF7Pw) If he thinks he’s in trouble now, the Prime Minister doesn’t know the meaning of the word. With the by-election in Makerfield just days away and the polls telling us Andy Burnham will win it, it looks like Starmer’s toast. The twin resignations of his Defence Secretary and Minister, albeit gobsmacking, were little more than an warm-up act. As our Political Correspondent Peter Spencer reports, the only question left is how

(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/ayg8PFm9gk8) Maybe it’s the heatwave. But an awful lot of folk who’re supposed to be on the same side are now at one another’s throats. Notably ex Prime Minister Tony Blair and the man who’s pitching to be the next one. And if Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham does get his way the impact on all our lives could be profound. Voters in the upcoming Makerfield by-election really do hold the nation’s destiny in their hands. So many words, so l

(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/H65rGr-WS2I) Try as he might to wrestle the agenda away from his own career prospects, the Prime Minister’s getting nowhere. The media focus remains relentlessly on where he’s going wrong and how nigh-on impossible it is for his party to put any of it right. In many ways that’s seriously unfair, but there’s little sign of the problem going away. To deal with the Labour leadership crisis first, no one seriously disputes that Keir Starm

(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/utCbWj_jvgk) Curtain’s up, house lights down, the stage is set – but where are the actors? The Westminster commentariat’s been squealing like little children in a sweet shop, only to find the shelves are bare. Or rather, there’s no immediate move to unseat the Prime Minister after all. Of course that doesn’t mean there won’t be one. Or that there will be. Confused? Dazed? Bored even? Understandable, given the deafening wall of noise c

(Read on, or view here: https://youtu.be/hIwQCzef38Q) As the results tumbled in and Labour’s plight looked grimmer and grimmer, it can’t fail to have crossed the Prime Minister’s mind to quit the field and invite others to try their luck. Though finding a replacement would still be a messy affair, it’d be a lot less so than a campaign to unseat him. But as long as all sides keep schtum this remains a story without a top line. At least the rest of it falls into place fairly ti

Or inaction? Take your pick, and don’t be taken in by anyone doing the knowing tap in the side of the nose thing and claiming to have the answer. In a few days from now the politicos and the hacks will have to cede all to the voters in the Scottish and Welsh and local elections. And there’s no guarantee of a rational response when the numbers divvy out. No question, the figures look set to be terrifying for Labour. Polls are consistently pointing to them losing four-fifths of