Labour’s attack dog turns on Andy Burnham

What a difference a year makes. Last August, Michael Dugher and Andy Burnham were thick as thieves with Dugher — a former Brown spinner — even running Burnham’s failed leadership campaign.

Alas now that Jeremy Corbyn is leader their friendship has taken a turn for the worse. While Dugher was sacked as shadow Culture Secretary in January, Burnham has clung on as shadow Home Secretary — even choosing to remain when the majority of the shadow cabinet resigned in protest of the leader. While sceptics suggested this was because he was worried about losing Corbynista votes in his bid to be the Mayor of Greater Manchester, today any such bet paid off with Burnham announced as Labour’s official candidate.

Only his old friend isn’t so impressed with his achievement. Dugher has taken to Twitter to mock Burnham for his neutrality in the leadership contest:

Of course Burnham hasn’t always been so neutral. Back when he was vying for the leadership, he was highly critical of Jezza — even accusing him of making excuses for Putin.