It’s time to call a halt to Messiah politics

Martin Shipton

Once again, Britain is caught up in a frenzy of Messiah politics.

With Keir Starmer’s approval ratings at a shockingly low level, the answer to Labour’s problems is, so far as many in the party are concerned, to find itself a new leader.

Andy Burnham, who on two previous occasions has stood for the leadership and failed to win, is now seen by many as the only politician who can save Labour from a humiliating defeat at the next general election in perhaps three and a half years’ time.

While there are certainly grounds to believe that Burnham is a more appealing figure to the electorate than Starmer – and more successful as Mayor of Greater Manchester than Starmer is as Prime Minister – I am uneasy at the way some are looking to him not as a preferable leader but as a potential saviour.

This is not a new phenomenon, by any means. Ten years ago Boris Johnson was seen by many as a formidable politician because of his carefully cultivated image as an eccentric and posh buffoon (for some reason connected no doubt to England’s deferential approach to class, buffoons are able to overcome their innate disadvantage if they are posh).

At the same time, Nigel Farage was well on the way to creating the personality cult that has turbocharged his political career and delivered multiple side opportunities for personal enrichment. Between them, this pair of charlatans brought us Brexit, which has imposed a huge drain on our economy.

For many, Farage retains his allure, and it’s that alone which has propelled Reform UK into its leading position in Britain-wide polls. Multiple vox pops and focus groups continue to showcase people who see him as the only man capable of rescuing “Broken Britain”.

The left has not been without its Messiahs. Jeremy Corbyn had the mantle thrust upon him when he unexpectedly emerged as the winner of the Labour leadership election after the party lost the 2015 election, with the Conservatives winning an overall majority and went ahead with the fateful referendum that took us out of the EU.

‘Lexit’

Corbyn’s failure to enthusiastically support the Remain campaign out of a misplaced “Lexit” [left-wing Brexit] view that the EU was simply a capitalist club that brought no benefit to workers certainly played a role in Leave’s victory.

Starmer is no one’s Messiah, although he led Labour to victory at the 2024 general election. This was at a time when the Tories had been wholly discredited and Reform was in an early phase after transitioning from the Brexit Party. Labour’s landslide was won with 560,000 votes less than the party had achieved under Corbyn in 2019, which was characterised as its worst electoral performance since 1935.

Starmer was a beneficiary of the unfair First Past The Post voting system, as Farage could potentially be at the next general election.

Recent days have seen Messiah politics confronted by Labour control-freakery, as Starmerites did their best to ensure that Burnham would be barred from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Dirty tricks

In Wales we know all about the dirty tricks engaged in by Labour apparatchiks to block candidates they don’t like. In 1999 classic bureaucratic manoeuvres were deployed to ensure Rhodri Morgan didn’t defeat Alun Michael in a contest to see who would lead the party in the first National Assembly election.

Further stitch-ups have happened since, with a whole book – The Fraud by Paul Holden – written about how the team behind Starmer implemented a multi-layered plan to crush the party’s left-wing and get their man elected by fair means and – more pertinently – foul.

The antics undertaken have nothing to do with making Labour more attractive to the electorate. Instead it’s all about doing whatever needs to be done to head off the possibility of Andy Burnham getting back into Parliament and then challenging Starmer for the leadership.

There is nothing in the party’s rulebook which says that a serving mayor should choose within a day of a seat becoming available through resignation or death whether they want to stand in the by-election or not. Yet that was the ultimatum given to Burnham.

Other ploys threatened included getting the party’s national executive committee to insist on an all-women candidates’ shortlist or even a black and minority ethnic shortlist, even though in the latter case such a decision has never been taken by the Labour Party before and could be challenged as unlawful discrimination.

There has also been the suggestion that the NEC – controlled by Starmerites – might use the cost of a mayoral by-election as an excuse to reject Burnham. Or they may not use an excuse at all and just do it to protect Starmer.

Burnham’s decision to seek permission to stand has kicked the onus right back on to Team Starmer. Do they dare to veto the Greater Manchester Mayor, and in doing so make their weakness even more apparent?

Such shenanigans on the part of the Starmerites demonstrate what a bad place Britain is in politically.

How have things come to this?

Discontented

The electorate is discontented, has been for years and is susceptible to the superficial charms of charlatans in whom they place their faith for a limited period before hitching themselves to somebody else’s wagon.

There’s a difference between following a Messiah and appreciating decisive leadership. Contrast the sycophancy shown towards Trump by Starmer with the measured defiance displayed by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney may have had his invitation to join Trump’s absurd Board of Peace withdrawn, but his integrity and self-respect remain intact.

Europe’s leaders appear cowed by Trump when they should be standing united against a bully who is making the world a more dangerous place.

In Wales we do have an opportunity to look at things more rationally in the run-up to the Senedd election in May. The parties will be making manifesto promises that can be subjected to scrutiny. Reform UK may even announce a Welsh leader in succession to the previous one who is now in prison. We may even get to see Reform’s list of candidates and the ability to subject them to scrutiny too.

We shouldn’t be looking for a Messiah, but we have a right to expect a set of would-be First Ministers who will be honest with voters and prepared to stand up for Wales in seeking fair treatment from whoever occupies 10 Downing Street.