Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦

This is the coastal town that they forgot to close down.

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@PapaSmurf1878 Why bother watching him then ? May as well put all foreign scouts on gardening leave until coach changes

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@JohnRentoul @rcolvile 👏👏👏

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@peterkyle @AbdiDuale_ I’m glad someone does

[Pat McFadden @patmcfaddenmp]

On this day in 1944...

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

one MP warns that failing to scrutinise Burnham in a contest risks a repeat of Gordon Brown’s unopposed takeover from Tony Blair in which they say his ideas weren’t tested, only storing up problems for later.

[Alex Wickham @alexwickham]

NEW: Bloomberg Saturday read

— Andy Burnham’s campaign is increasingly confident he’s going to win Makerfield. They believe he’s edged ahead of Reform this week in part due to what they see as Nigel Farage mishandling the Henry Nowak case and Robert Kenyon’s poor public performances.

— It means the conversation has turned to what happens next, actively encouraged by Burnham who is now in the extraordinary position of making national policy announcements despite previously saying he was focused on the by-election. Labour MPs are split: some (his supporters) want a Burnham coronation and others think there should be a full leadership election.

— Allies of Keir Starmer are defiant and insist he will fight any contest. One says they don’t believe Starmer will simply give up because he strongly believes in his mandate. Another says polling shows Starmer still has support among Labour members. Crucially, they say he would see it as a dereliction of duty to agree a handover to someone with no clear plan for power, whose policies are unknown and haven’t been put to a vote.

— Still, Burnham supporters say they hope Starmer and Wes Streeting see their man is the only viable successor. They say they’ll lobby the cabinet to tell Starmer not to force a contest and to agree an orderly handover. They argue there doesn’t need to be a full leadership election. Their preference is for a coronation, either immediately or with an agreed handover date.

— One option suggested by some Burnham supporters is that Starmer stays in post for a few more months to manage ongoing crises from Iran to Ukraine and the NATO summit in July. That would give Burnham time to formulate a plan for government ahead of an agreed handover later in the year. (The risk is this looks like an admission he doesn’t have a plan.)

— Other Labour MPs are adamant there has to be a proper contest. Wes Streeting tells Bloomberg he will not allow a coronation. Burnham allies think he doesn’t have the numbers and in any case can be bought off with a cabinet job. Still, one MP warns that failing to scrutinise Burnham in a contest risks a repeat of Gordon Brown’s unopposed takeover from Tony Blair in which they say his ideas weren’t tested, only storing up problems for later.

— Officially Burnham says these conversations are premature, stressing he isn’t complacent or taking anything for granted. That said, he really is having his cake and eating it, claiming to be focusing on local issues and refusing to engage on some of the harder national policy questions then openly opining on others when it suits him, especially in the last 24 hours. It isn’t going down well with some in the Labour Party.

— Labour officials think Farage overcompensated with his rhetoric this week because he’s worried about Restore. Reform officials insist Farage is in tune with voters despite what Westminster thinks, and to expect more of the same in the weeks and months ahead. Both Labour and Reform officials still say the by-election is close.

Story with @Joe_Mayes >>> https://t.co/EpczpzEF1n

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

Some members of the audience started to laugh. They didn’t mind that Rob was clearly not very bright. But they didn’t want someone who was a bigot.

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

“His mind seemed to be constantly working overtime, desperately trying to remember the party lines the Reform media team had been prepping him with for the last few days. He was the least relaxed person in the north-west by some distance.”

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

“The personality he’s currently alighted on seems to be very popular,” said one skeptical but supportive MP.

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@buitengebieden Ringo

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

Glad we’re now all experts on flooding and the Spatial Plan #bbcqt

[Robert Wilkinson @robertwlk]

40 years ago today, l asked my childhood sweetheart, my best friend and the most gorgeous woman l know to marry me.

All three said no.

[Skint Eastwood @Skint_Eastwood1]

😭 Absolute classic sketch from Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse’s BAFTA-winning BBC series.

Harry and Paul do a brilliant parody of BBC Question Time: the clichéd audience questions, the sweaty nervous bloke in the jumper, the host’s withering put-downs, panelists waffling absolute nonsense… and all the timeless British political b*llocks in one perfect sketch. 😂

Still painfully accurate years later.

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@JohnRentoul Absolutely

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@TomBaldwin66 @spectator I’m more interested in Mandelson’s motives. Or is he just lashing out wherever…

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@CitizenSuburbia Goodness this is so rational and sensible it’s unbelievable. The only thing I doubt is being elite within 3/4 years. Could take 10.

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

@ShippersUnbound Presumably Mandelson has leaked the messages. Is he just hitting out wildly at everyone or is there method in it?

[Matt Finnegan 🇺🇦 @mattfinished]

With friends like this …

[Momentum 🌹 @PeoplesMomentum]

If Labour is to reconnect with its voter base, it must restore democracy.

That’s why it’s vital we get @AndyBurnhamGM elected in Markerfield.

Andy supports reforming the whipping system and promoting a pluralist, democratic Party.

Join our campaign day in Wigan on 13 June.

[𝐄𝐑 @ErlingRoIe]

This is brilliant

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

Daniel Finkelstein is right. Nicola Sturgeon wants Scotland to believe that the politician who controlled the SNP, dominated Scottish politics and tolerated no dissent somehow knew nothing about what was happening inside her own party. Questions about the money were shut down. Critics were frozen out. Loyalists closed ranks. Now, after Peter Murrell’s conviction, she says she bears no responsibility. You cannot demand total control when things go well and plead ignorance when everything falls apart. Scots are no longer buying it.

[Oliver @OWS1892]

"Fuck Henry Nowak's family's wishes. My career relies on hatred & division, and I'm not passing up this opportunity."