Andy Burnham’s Everton took on Leeds United on Monday night after a disappointing weekend for the Mayor of Greater Manchester
Andy Burnham light-heartedly suggested that Dominic Calvert-Lewin would net a hat-trick for Leeds United against the Greater Manchester Mayor’s beloved Everton, capping off what had already been a difficult few days for him. Burnham referenced being prevented from contesting the Gorton and Denton by-election following a decision by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
Calvert-Lewin opted to depart Everton when his contract expired last summer, moving to Leeds. The transfer was completed after both sides had already faced each other on the opening weekend of the current campaign.
Consequently, Monday night’s fixture represented Calvert-Lewin’s first chance to play against his previous club and make his return to Merseyside. The politician made his playful remarks an hour-and-a-half before the match commenced.
Burnham wrote on X: “Given the weekend I’ve had, it feels very much like a Dominic Calvert-Lewin hat-trick is now incoming.”
Fortunately for Bunrham, the Toffees rescued a point thanks to Thierno Barry, after James Justin had given Leeds United the lead, with Calvert-Lewin not on the scoresheet.
This post marked the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s first since expressing his frustration at Sunday’s NEC ruling.
He commented: “I am disappointed by today’s NEC decision and concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us. To whoever is Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support, and I will be there whenever you need me.
“Tomorrow I return with full focus to my role as Mayor of GM, defending everything we have built in our city-region over many years. I decided to put myself forward to prevent the divisive politics of Reform from damaging that. We are stronger together, and let’s stay that way.
“PS – The fact that the media was informed of the NEC decision before I was tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days. You would think that over 30 years of service would count for something, but sadly, not.”
Since then, Burnham’s only social media activity included thanking a supporter for their loyalty and reaffirming the accuracy of his statement. He also hit back at former Labour adviser Tom Baldwin’s suggestion that his potential Westminster comeback “does no one any good” by responding, “I’m not sure losing a by-election does us any good either, Tom.
“In a statement, Labour explained: “The NEC believes that causing an unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester mayor would have a substantial and disproportionate impact on party campaign resources ahead of the local elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd in May. Although the Party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk.”
Sir Keir Starmer, who sits on the committee, voted in favour of preventing Burnham from standing. The Mayor of Manchester’s return to Parliament via a by-election victory would have paved the way for him to challenge the Prime Minister for leadership.
On Monday, Starmer reiterated Labour’s position, stating: “Andy Burnham’s doing a great job as the mayor of Manchester, but having an election for the mayor of Manchester when it’s not necessary would divert our resources away from the [local] elections that we must have, that we must fight and win. And resources, whether that’s money or people, need to be focused on the elections that we must have, not elections that we don’t have to have, and that was the basis of the NEC decision.”
