4 hours ago
9
Minister says Andy Burnham should become leader in 'swift transition' without other Labour MPs mounting challenge
Good morning. Nothing is inevitable in life, but it is now all-but-certain that Andy Burnham will become the next Labour leader. There are still more than two weeks before the nominations for the leadership open on Thursday 9 July but – unless the Mail on Sunday can somehow unearth some surprise scandal about how Burnham has fathered a secret lovechild while also taking bribes from Israeli defence companies or whatever (which they won’t) – Burnham has in effect already won. He is the clear choice for Labour party members, and yesterday Labour MPs showed that they overwhelmingly back him too.
There is no realistic prospect of any alternative candidate beating Burnham in a leadership election. And there almost no realistic prospect of any person who does launch a leadership bid getting the support of 81 MPs, and the nominations from 5% of constituency Labour parties, or at least three affiliate organisations (of which two have to be unions), that they would need to be a candidate.
But that has not stopped chatter about some sort of challenge. It is possible to imagine some sort of shadow contest happening over the next fortnight, involving candidates declaring an interest, giving speeches, setting out a platform and perhaps attending hustings (before probably pulling out by 9 July when they don’t have enough support). This morning, the BBC is reporting that Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, and Al Carns, the former armed forces minister, have not ruled out a bid.
Other figures in the party are trying to discourage this sort of challenge. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for EU relations, has been giving interviews this morning. He was a Keir Starmer loyalist, but today he said that he wanted to see Burnham become leader and that he wanted to see “a swift transition”.
He told Sky News:
I’m backing Andy Burnham and, yes, looking for a swift transition.
Asked if that meant he did not want a contest, he said:
I just think we have to weigh up what is in the best interests of the country. I am of the view that it needs to be a swift transition, but of course I understand colleagues have difficult decisions to make.
And Margaret Hodge, the former minister and Labour peer, told the Today programme that, while she could see the case for an election, “on balance” she thought it would be better not to have one. “We’ve got to get on with delivering, we’re in government,” she told the programme.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
9am: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, launches a poster campaign at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum vote.
9.30am: Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, and Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, is sentenced at Edinburgh high court for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
10am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, publishes an article defending Brexit on his Substack account.
10am: Sir Martyn Oliver, the head of Ofsted, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
11am: More in Common publishes MRP polling on views on rejoining the EU.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Michel Barnier, the lead EU negotiator during the Brexit process, speaks at a UK in a Changing Europe conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the referendum. David Frost, Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, is also speaking.
2pm: Kemi Badenoch speaks at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London.
2.30pm: Lord Hermer, the attorney general, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee.
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If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
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Key events
Farage claims 'no one cares' about his undisclosed £5m donation from crypto billionaire, 'apart from media'
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK, has claimed that “no one cares” about the undisclosed £5m donation he recieved from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire, shortly before he was elected as an MP in 2024.
Asked about the donation in an interview on BBC Breakfast this morning, Farage said: “No one cares, apart from the media, no one cares.”
He went on:
I’m absolutely convinced I’ve done nothing wrong in any way at all. I also know that since I was elected as an MP, I’ve taken zero in personal expenses. I’m very careful and very cautious about these things.
Under Commons rules, MPs have to declare donations they receive, including in the 12 months before their election, if they are linked to their political work, or might reasonably be thought to be related. Farage did not register the £5m because he says it was a personal gift to fund his security, and it only became public when revealed by the Guardian.
One person who clearly does care about this is Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, who is investigating whether Farage broke parliamentary rules.
Farage largely gave up on holding press conferences after the £5m donation became public, and he frequently got tetchy when asked about, but today he has been doing interviews to mark the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote and could not avoid the topic.
On BBC Breakfast, asked how much of the money had been spent, Farage replied: “It’s none of your business.”
Farage also gave an interview to the Today programme, where the presenter, Nick Robinson, asked him:
Would you be happy if the next prime minister of this country secretly banked a £5m cheque from a billionaire whose business interests he was promoting?
Farage said he would “refute that entirely”. He said he did not promote Harborne’s business interests.
He questioned Robinson’s decison to describe the donation as secret. When Robinson pointed out that he did not declare it, Farage switched tack and claimed that he did not need to.
Farage claimed that he had been arguing in support of the cryptocurrency industry “for years”. He also suggested that, even if London were to change its rules on crypto trading, that was unlikely to affect Harborne’s investments in the sector because it was such a “minute part of the global market”.
Harborne has said that he has never asked for anything in return for his donations to Reform UK, or in return for the personal donation to Farage.
When news of the donation first broke, Farage said that on the basis of the legal advice he had been given he was confident that Commons rules did not require him to declare it. The parliamentary commissioner for standards is now investigating this, and this morning Farage sounded less confident about being cleared. He told BBC Breakfast.
I believe [the donation] to be a wholly private matter. The standards commissioner may take a different view.
It is easy to see why Farage is claiming “no one cares” about the donation. Research published last week showed that, of all the many lines used by Labour to attack Farage, those highlighting the donation, and accusing Farage of being in the pocket of rich donors, are most likely to influence voters.
In a Guardian story last week, Tom Burgis and Rowena Mason revealed that Farage has been trying to block a Bank of England cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for Harborne.
Former SNP chief executive jailed for 5 years and 3 months for embezzling more than £400,000 from party
Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, has been jailed at the high court in Edinburgh for five years and three months after he admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
In Scotland Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, is being sentenced for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
You can watch the live proceedings here.
Darren Jones and Al Carns decline to rule out challenging Burnham for Labour leadership
This is what the Press Association is reporting about the two MPs who have not ruled out challenging Andy Burnham for the Labour leadership. PA says:
Cabinet minister Darren Jones and former armed forces minister Al Carns are being considered as potential candidates by Labour MPs wary about installing Mr Burnham in No 10 without a contest.
Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister and a key ally of Keir Starmer, is one potential candidate with support from those loyal to the outgoing Labour leader.
Sources close to Jones said he was not currently minded to run in a contest but that he would want assurances on Burnham’s approach to economic policy, amid concerns among some of potential unease in the markets.
Burnham is set to make a major speech next week to set out key aspects of his economic policy, including confirmation he will stick to the current chancellor Rachel Reeves’ rules for managing the public finances.
The second potential rival to Burnham is former Royal Marines officer Carns, who is making up his mind whether to launch a leadership campaign.
He suggested on ITV’s Peston he was considering what to do before nominations for the Labour leadership open on 9 July .
“I’m not ready to make a decision on this in any way, shape or form,” he said.
“What I would say is we need to move from the politics which talk through the tactics and actually think about the strategy, and what I’m really looking for are big objective outcomes that we want to get to in 2029 and 2034-35”.
He said: “we need to have a clear and concise discussion about what this country wants to be at the next general election and the general election after that”.
Ed Miliband to say UK must stick to net zero targets to deliver jobs and growth
Ed Miliband is to say that the UK must stick to net zero targets to deliver jobs and growth, as speculation surrounds the energy secretary’s role under a new prime minister, Fiona Harvey reports.
It is the 10th anniversary of the vote to leave the EU. There will be some coverage of related events here, but Jakub Krupa will be covering this in more detail on his Europe live blog.
Minister says Andy Burnham should become leader in 'swift transition' without other Labour MPs mounting challenge
Good morning. Nothing is inevitable in life, but it is now all-but-certain that Andy Burnham will become the next Labour leader. There are still more than two weeks before the nominations for the leadership open on Thursday 9 July but – unless the Mail on Sunday can somehow unearth some surprise scandal about how Burnham has fathered a secret lovechild while also taking bribes from Israeli defence companies or whatever (which they won’t) – Burnham has in effect already won. He is the clear choice for Labour party members, and yesterday Labour MPs showed that they overwhelmingly back him too.
There is no realistic prospect of any alternative candidate beating Burnham in a leadership election. And there almost no realistic prospect of any person who does launch a leadership bid getting the support of 81 MPs, and the nominations from 5% of constituency Labour parties, or at least three affiliate organisations (of which two have to be unions), that they would need to be a candidate.
But that has not stopped chatter about some sort of challenge. It is possible to imagine some sort of shadow contest happening over the next fortnight, involving candidates declaring an interest, giving speeches, setting out a platform and perhaps attending hustings (before probably pulling out by 9 July when they don’t have enough support). This morning, the BBC is reporting that Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, and Al Carns, the former armed forces minister, have not ruled out a bid.
Other figures in the party are trying to discourage this sort of challenge. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for EU relations, has been giving interviews this morning. He was a Keir Starmer loyalist, but today he said that he wanted to see Burnham become leader and that he wanted to see “a swift transition”.
He told Sky News:
I’m backing Andy Burnham and, yes, looking for a swift transition.
Asked if that meant he did not want a contest, he said:
I just think we have to weigh up what is in the best interests of the country. I am of the view that it needs to be a swift transition, but of course I understand colleagues have difficult decisions to make.
And Margaret Hodge, the former minister and Labour peer, told the Today programme that, while she could see the case for an election, “on balance” she thought it would be better not to have one. “We’ve got to get on with delivering, we’re in government,” she told the programme.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
9am: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, launches a poster campaign at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum vote.
9.30am: Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, and Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband, is sentenced at Edinburgh high court for embezzling more than £400,000 from the party.
10am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, publishes an article defending Brexit on his Substack account.
10am: Sir Martyn Oliver, the head of Ofsted, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
11am: More in Common publishes MRP polling on views on rejoining the EU.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Michel Barnier, the lead EU negotiator during the Brexit process, speaks at a UK in a Changing Europe conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the referendum. David Frost, Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, is also speaking.
2pm: Kemi Badenoch speaks at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London.
2.30pm: Lord Hermer, the attorney general, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
