Peter Walker

See also.

It's definitely an interesting tactic to field a candidate who endorses Trump's great replacement conspiracy theories about Europe in a seat where 35%-ish of the population was born outside the UK.

Even with the caveat that lots of voters barely notice who a candidate it, Reform selecting Matt Goodwin for Gorton and Denton is... bold:
• Not a politician
• Has said some pretty fruity things
• Quite thin-skinned

Book me in for the hustings.

Make it known you don’t want 15 minute cities. Or deal with the consequences of more car fines & an very smaller on camera life.

Oh, OK, so new Conservative peer Sharron Davies is a 15-minute city conspiracy theorist (as much as I can comprehend the tweet).

Labour Party Chair responds to Reform being unable to find Gorton and Denton

Fair enough, this is a good subject header for a political email.

Thank you.

Under law, the EHRC can't unilaterally change guidance it has submitted to govt – this can happen only if ministers request amendments. But the new EHRC chair, Mary-Ann Stephenson is viewed as more open to listening to concerns about its implementation than her predecessor, Kishwer Falkner.

EHRC’s guidance on single-sex spaces being adapted under ‘constructive’ new chair Exclusive: Mary-Ann Stephenson said to have more pragmatic approach in trying to limit impact on trans people and on businesses

NEW: Guidance on how to implement the supreme court ruling on gender is being adapted to lessen its impact on businesses and to ensure it tries to balance single-sex spaces with the lives of transgender people, the Guardian has been told.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Sarah Pochin: "Terrorists do not deserve human rights."

The entire post-WWII settlement, including the ECHR, was based around the fact that *everyone* has human rights and governments deciding who can and cannot have human rights is a very slippery slope.

Sarsh Pochin also goes down the far right language route with asylum seekers, referring to "young, fighting age men from a culture quite different to our own and with a different set of values".

Reform news-story-waiting-to-happen Sarah Pochin is being allowed a rare public outing, though just reading a speech. Presumably if she veers off the script David Bull presses a button and she gets a mild electric shock as a warning.

It's worth pointing out that there is a very good case to be made that successive governments have badly neglected veterans. But it's another argument to say this has to be presented as an either/or with treating asylum seekers with dignity.

Correct. I was first but on Bluesky rather than X.....

Reform have been ahead in the polls for about a year. They are favourites to win the next election. The “giving them PR” ship sailed a long, long time ago.

I point out the far right-leaning part because it’s easy to lose track of the gradual creep in the political language about asylum seekers in the UK recently.

Perennial Reform warn-up man David Bull is opening the event with some fairly openly far right-leaning comments about how the UK is neglecting veterans “in favour of people who illegally invade our country” and “often don’t share our values or culture”.

I’m at a Nigel Farage/Reform event in London where they are launching “Veterans for Reform”. A perhaps obvious crossover but there’s a few hundred people here - a big political crowd to draw on a Monday morning.

Kemi Badenoch on ITV about Robert Jenrick: "Everyone watching your show will have a work colleague like this, a drama queen. It's always somebody else who's done something. They were not there at the scene of the problems. But when there's something to take credit for, they rush to the front."

The Washington Post published a clear video of federal agents removing Alex Pretti's handgun moments before he was fatally shot. There's nothing in the video to suggest Pretti even reached for his weapon.

wapo.st/49Zqv1L

I mean, if the government wants to be sure the Gorton and Denton byelection doesn't go to Reform, they could always make supplementary vote the system for parliamentary elections as well as mayoral ones (again) #justsaying

Reaction to the NEC decision is coming in, and... it's fairly brutal:

TSSA union: "Labour has lost its way."
Unison union: "This isn’t the way any democratic organisation should be run."
Labour MP Simon Opher: "We desperately need to be better than this."

From a tactical point of view, Polanski going for a London seat would make more sense anyway. In Gorton & Denton Labour could legitimately argue that a split vote on the left could let Reform in. For Labour-ish voters in London, voting Green is effectively a free hit.

Worth pointing out, as others have below, that even as Green leader you can't just parachute yourself into a constituency, given the party's strongly localised structure. So Polanski's wishes either way might have ended up moot anyway.

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

NEW: Green leader Zack Polanksi is *not* planning to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election, party sources say. There had been speculation as he is originally from Manchester. But the Greens still plan to fight hard in the seat, and Polanski will campaign there.

Statement from the Labour Party Directly Elected Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners must seek the express permission of Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, before seeking nomination as a Labour candidate for the Westminster Parliament in accordance with Chapter 5, Clause IV, 2 of the Labour Party Rule Book. This rule was put in place to avoid the party incurring unnecessary costs of running two simultaneous political campaigns. Yesterday Andy Burnham sought such permission from the NEC to stand in the Gorton and Denton Parliamentary by-election, which would have led to a mayoral by-election in Greater Manchester. The NEC has decided not to grant Andy Burnham permission to stand. 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. Andy Burnham is doing a great job as Mayor of Greater Manchester. We believe it is in the best interests of the party to avoid an unnecessary Mayoral election which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources that are better spent tackling the cost of living crisis. We look forward to fighting and winning the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton and the positive campaign ahead which will be firmly focussed on tackling the cost of living and bringing investment to the local area. Ends

Full Labour statement on why Burnham was blocked.

Andy Burnham blocked from byelection race by Labour ruling committee Decision likely to set off ferocious row between Keir Starmer loyalists and allies of Greater Manchester mayor

Story: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

NEW: Andy Burnham *blocked* from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Of nine voting members on NEC group was 8-1 against him.

Allies of Starmer are, in turn, pushing back: "At a time of great geo-political tensions and in the middle of a cost of living crisis, the country would be aghast if the government turned inwards... We don't have time for endless speculation."

“I know my friend the mayor has put his name forward – and I believe the local members should get the choice, no stitch ups.  If they decide that’s who they want, I know he’d make a fantastic candidate to lead our Labour campaign.

NEW: Angela Rayner has used a speech to North West Labour to urge "no stitch-ups" in whether Andy Burnham is allowed to try to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Gets tougher all the time if No 10 want to block him.