Andy Burnham has won the race to be named as Labour’s candidate in the Manchester Mayoral race. The shadow home secretary’s victory was certainly convincing – he won 50 per cent of the vote amongst Labour members; interim mayor Tony Lloyd got 28 per cent, whilst former minister Ivan Lewis won 19 per cent. So what now? Burnham had made himself something of a laughing stock recently with his flip-flopping about quitting the shadow cabinet. He drew derision for staying loyal to Corbyn, so at least after today he appears to have a bonafide reason at last for leaving the shadow cabinet.
Despite the infancy of his mayoral campaign, Burnham is already no stranger to making embarrassing gaffes; he suggested, for instance, that it was grim up north – painting a picture of today’s booming, cosmopolitan Manchester which many locals didn’t recognise.
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