Burnham is a Giant Step Backwards to a Better Sort of British Politics

Makerfield’s new MP will face deep challenges if he makes it to Downing Street – but he can succeed where others haven’t been able to, writes Peter Oborne

Victory for Labour. A heavy and wounding defeat for Nigel Farage and Reform UK. Triumph for Andy Burnham. Complete and utter ruin for Keir Starmer. We are witnessing the destruction of a prime minister. In real time. It is so humiliating that it’s horrible to watch.

Starmer found himself in an invidious position by the final days of the Makerfield by-election. His only route to survival was a victory for Labour’s deadly enemy, Reform.

Everybody in the Labour Party knows that, without Andy Burnham, Labour would have crashed to defeat. With Burnham, Labour won an easy victory. The astonishing scale of that victory explains why we will be witnessing the arrival of a new British prime minister.