NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken)

Retired NHS nurse, 50’s born woman, Labrador Mum to Sienna, SKS supporter.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

I don’t want @Keir_Starmer to stand down, let’s put it to the members. Bring it on Burnham et al. #StarmerStays

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

Substantial numbers within the Labour Party membership want Keir Starmer to stand if there is a challenge. They want the opportunity to decide for themselves who should lead their party.

That is precisely why the current campaign to pressure Starmer into resigning is causing so much anger among members.

If Andy Burnham's support among Labour members is as overwhelming as some MPs, ministers and commentators claim, there would be no need to force Starmer from office before a contest takes place. The membership would simply deliver its verdict.

The obvious question is this: if Burnham's victory is so certain, why are so many people working so hard to avoid putting that certainty to the test?

Many members have reached their own conclusion.

The moment a leadership election takes place, control passes from Westminster to the membership. Anonymous briefings, media narratives and parliamentary manoeuvring cease to matter. The decision rests with Labour members alone.

That is why the democratic process matters.

A resignation without a contest creates the impression that the Labour Party has united behind Andy Burnham and that the question has already been settled. Yet many members do not recognise that picture at all.

Indeed, some suspect that the reason for avoiding a contest is the fear that it may reveal something very different: that support for Burnham is neither as universal nor as overwhelming as the current campaign would have people believe.

That possibility alone makes a contest essential.

If there is to be a change of leader, it should happen openly, democratically and with the consent of the membership.

Let Keir Starmer stand.

Let Andy Burnham stand.

Let the arguments be tested.

Let approximately 350,000 Labour members decide.

Anything else risks looking less like a democratic transition and more like a coronation.

And if there truly is overwhelming support for Andy Burnham, then his supporters should have absolutely nothing to fear from putting that claim before the membership and allowing it to be tested.

Most importantly, Labour Party members now need to recognise what is at stake. This is no longer a matter of simply disagreeing with what is taking place or expressing frustration on social media. If members believe the current approach is wrong, then they need to make their voices heard through every legitimate avenue available to them within the party.

The rules of the Labour Party give members rights and a voice in choosing their leader. If that process is bypassed through pressure, manoeuvring and a campaign to force a resignation before a proper contest can take place, then members risk surrendering control over one of the most important decisions they are entitled to make.

If members want a contest, they should say so.

If members want Keir Starmer to stand, they should say so.

If members believe the leadership should be decided through due process rather than political pressure, they should say so.

Because once such rights are surrendered, they are often far harder to reclaim.

The membership should not be a spectator in this process. It should be its final arbiter.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

I second this. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Cal Cowen @calculus52]

For the sake of the country @Keir_Starmer please don't "consider", "reflect" or anything else on your your position. You are our elected PM, the only one with a mandate.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Is this what’s terrifying you all @HarrietHarman? #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

What strikes me about all of this is that the campaign does not appear to have ended with Makerfield. If anything, it appears to have moved into a new phase.

The same operation that spent weeks building up Andy Burnham's profile now appears focused on creating the impression that Keir Starmer's departure is inevitable. We see MPs appearing across the media, calling for change and presenting the situation as though the outcome has already been decided.

But there is a fundamental problem with that strategy.

Three hundred MPs can call for Keir Starmer to resign if they wish. They are still only three hundred votes.

The Labour Party has approximately 350,000 members.

That is the calculation that appears to be worrying some people.

If Starmer resigns, the membership never gets the opportunity to express its view. If Starmer stands and forces a proper democratic contest, then the assumptions currently being made by Westminster figures are put to the test.

And that test may produce a very different outcome from the one some people are expecting.

What is increasingly visible across social media is anger from party members who feel they are being presented with a conclusion before they have been consulted. Many joined Labour under the current leadership. Many campaigned for it. Many voted for it.

The danger for those pushing this campaign is that they may be confusing the mood of Westminster with the mood of the membership.

A leadership election would expose the truth very quickly.

Because while MPs may have around 300 votes between them, the membership has approximately 350,000.

And if those members decide they do not support the direction being pushed upon them, then the entire political calculation changes overnight.

That, I suspect, is why some people appear far more comfortable talking about resignation than they do about a democratic contest.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Labour has gone from 'Change' to 'Hope' in less than two years. If they carry on like this then the next slogan is called 'Opposition'.

Idiotic spectacle, this. Really stupid.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Are you watching @UKLabour? You’ve got is so very wrong here. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Heather @HeatherJLpals]

#bbcaq - there is a message being sent by the public loud and clear here. People don’t want us to change our prime minister. The labour mps need to listen..

[Patrina Finch #FBPE @Siege_Perilous]

As @UKLabour MP, if you don’t stand by Starmer now and force him out, you’ll have capitulated to the far-right billionaire-owned media who will rain carnage down on Burnham and force him to a GE. Are you so blindly naive that you can’t see Bannon’s hand behind all this?

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

I love this. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Malcolm Tucker @gorbalsgoebbels]

Starmer isn’t a career politician.
Starmer was DPP during the phone hacking scandal.
Starmer stood up to Musk.
Starmer’s statesmanship makes Farage look like a testicle.
Starmer took the long term difficult decisions to course correct Broken Britain rather than easy wins.

[Brendan May @bmay]

So Harriet Harman was resurrected from the political wilderness by Starmer and given a big advisory role, and just weeks later now wants him to quit but doesn’t think Labour members should have a say as long as there is a woman on the ballot.

Not a remotely serious person.

[𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓮 @charlotteukcity]

@Keir_Starmer Keir Starmer, every day since the GE I’ve been glad I voted for you. You’ve exceeded my high expectations & achieved an incredible amount of goals already. You’ve morals & carry yourself with class despite all thrown at you.
I VOTE FOR YOU ONLY.
If you leave I’m done with Labour

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Absolutely this! #StarmerStays

[Filly ☘️ @fillypepper]

Hey @AndyBurnhamGM
If you truly believe you’ve got what it takes to be Prime Minister then put it to the test, do the democratic and right thing by putting it to us, the members to decide.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

@AndyBurnhamGM can take a running jump! This was an unnecessary election, let him fund it. After years of grandstanding, media soundbites & managed decline on his watch, Burnham has created the perfect conditions for a Reform breakthrough & it’ll all be on him if they succeed.

[Andy @AndyRejoinEU]

First begging email from Labour to fund the GM Mayor election.

@AndyBurnhamGM should fund it all as he promised he would serve the full term when he was last elected.

Am 🤬

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Well said. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Kernow Q @KernowQ]

It's idiocy!
Why, Oh why, are people being taken in soooo easily???
If the best PM in many years is removed by backstabbers for a lesser man, what do they think will improve???
None of the difficulties UK faces will be any different!
There will just be an untrustworthy PM.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Brilliant! #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Brendan May @bmay]

Just because you can beat a sexist bloke in Wigan who can’t breathe and talk at the same time in a seat your party already holds doesn’t mean you can win over a centre/centre-right leaning country.

I’m astounded anyone thinks the first a suitable qualification for the second.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Crime, congestion, failing services, housing pressure & public frustration have all grown while Burnham plays to the gallery. When politicians ignore what ordinary people are saying, voters eventually hit back, & if Reform wins, Burnham will have helped hand it to them. 2/2

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

If Reform takes the Greater Manchester mayoralty, Andy Burnham should look in the mirror. Years of grandstanding, virtue-signalling and media-friendly soundbites have done nothing to stop decline on his watch. #StarmerStays

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

@Shwmewhtyougot @Keir_Starmer This claim isn’t true. The ‘13,000 letters’ were police disruption notices, not decisions made by Starmer, & independent reviews found no evidence he blocked prosecutions. Let’s stick to facts not recycled political myths.

https://t.co/Ue9uuEssTO

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Please stand firm @Keir_Starmer your support amongst members on social media is heartwarming. I am so angry that some are so determined to destroy the Party. Burnham can just back off & Streeting can slither back under his rock.

[CHOOSE LOVE 🌹 @K4Owen]

@TallyCat8 @kennygfrederick @Peston If Burnham is hell bent to wreck the Lab party, then as lifelong Lab supporter/member want Keir Starmer to ignore the fall out & enter into leadership contest, let members decide, when they hear both men present their vision & are cross examined we know the outcome @Keir_Starmer

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Well said. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[Gordon Fielden @GordonFielden]

We know exactly what many of you in the PLP are doing, and let's be clear about something. You each have one vote. Just one. The other 350,000 Labour members also have one vote each, and far too many of you seem to have forgotten that fact. You are spending a great deal of time talking to each other whilst not listening to the wider membership. That could prove to be your undoing. Politics has a habit of reminding people that parliamentary numbers and membership support are not always the same thing. Ignore 350,000 members at your peril.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

@AlanWillia50051 @Keir_Starmer Yes I’m retired NHS, and I can tell you straight that it wasn’t Starmer who spent 14 years dismantling it. He can’t perform miracles in 2 years. I support him because he’s the first PM in years actually trying to rebuild what was broken. That’s why Starmer must stay.

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

@johnmcdonnellMP @Keir_Starmer must stay, he made the party electable again and delivered the victory many said was impossible. I’ll never forgive you backstabbers who are trying to tear the party apart, and if you force him out, I’ll be cancelling my membership. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[NHSWorker #TeamStarmer (Previously TizBroken) @NHSWorker17]

Me & thousands of others. #StopTheCoup #StarmerStays

[#PositiveForLabour @nowayjomo]

@johnmcdonnellMP @ThatTimWalker The priority for me is to see Starmer stay and if he's FORCED out, I will cancel my membership and leave with thousands of others and dam the lot of you.
#IStandWithStarmer
@Keir_Starmer