When the Labour party football team played a group of journalists at Loftus Road two years ago the hacks won 4-1. The politicians’ solitary goal came from a late penalty. When the referee pointed to the spot, the centre-forward stepped up, elbowing well-known names like Ed Balls, David Miliband and Sadiq Khan out of the way in his rush to grab the glory.
There was a notable absentee that day. ‘Keir [Starmer] had been due to play, but he didn’t turn up,’ a witness recalls. ‘If he had been there, he’d probably have grabbed the ball and there might have been a tussle.’ Instead, Andy Burnham said: ‘This is mine,’ and calmly slotted it into the corner. ‘It was a perfect penalty.’ For those who seek further clues to his direction of travel, Burnham kicked the ball to the right as he looked at it, to the goalkeeper’s left. Make of that what you will.
The Makerfield by-election on 18 June will decide whether this was a metaphor for the moment a barely politically present Prime Minister makes way for someone more decisive. If Burnham does win the by-election, even Starmer’s closest allies admit he will have to seek an orderly departure from Downing Street by the autumn. ‘If Andy wins, it’s over,’ a cabinet minister admits. ‘Keir knows that.’
