Burnham eyes Labour crown as Starmer clings on
5/15/202645 min
In a dramatic week at Westminster, Wes Streeting has quit as health secretary and ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has said her wrangling with HMRC is finally over – but neither has launched a leadership challenge. Instead, all eyes are now on Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham as he attempts to chart a path back to the Commons, leaving Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership under severe pressure. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by political correspondent Anna Gross, deputy opinion editor Miranda Green and deputy political editor Jim Pickard to discuss the latest developments. The team also examines Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s shifting story about his £5mn personal gift from a Thailand-based crypto investor in 2024, and looks ahead to consider what a Reform government would do.
Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher or @lucyfisher.ft.com; Anna @annasophiagross; Miranda @greenmiranda & @greenmirandahere.bsky.social and Jim @pickardJE
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Political Fix was presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Nisha Patel. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound engineering by Breen Turner. The broadcast engineers are Andrew Georgiades and Bianca Wakeman. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLucy Fisher· Host0:00
[upbeat music] It's all eyes on Andy Burnham as Wes Streeting resigns and Keir Starmer clings on. I'm Lucy Fisher. This is Political Fix from the Financial Times. We're going to be discussing the Prime Minister's leadership crisis. Plus, will new revelations about Farage's personal finances finally scratch the Teflon? With me to discuss it all are political correspondent Anna Gross. Hi, Anna.
Anna Gross· Panelist0:25
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:25
FT's Deputy Political Editor Jim Pickard. Hi, Jim.
Jim Pickard· Panelist0:29
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:30
And the FT's Deputy Opinion Editor Miranda Green. Hi, Miranda.
Miranda Green· Panelist0:34
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:35
I don't know about you guys. When we convened at the end of last week just after the local elections, some of you talked about being frazzled and over-caffeinated on the panel. This week I'm feeling frazzled in a different way, wired from just having waited so long for something to happen. And finally, on Thursday, it's all come to pass, hasn't it, Miranda? We've had Angela Rayner announce that her spot of bother with HMRC has settled. Wes Streeting has resigned but not launched a leadership election, and Andy Burnham is running. Tell us more.
Miranda Green· Panelist1:09
Well, it's a bit like, I don't know, it's like some sort of weird Labour lawyer jerga, isn't it? Sort of assembling to try and work out how they're gonna replace Keir Starmer, if indeed they're gonna do it. And quite a lot-- You're right, an awful lot has happened, but there have also been strange periods of suspended animation because this phenomenon of will