Burnham’s vow to end Labour briefing wars will test his grip on the party

In his first speech as Labour leader, Andy Burnham outlined a utopian vision for cleaning up Westminster politics: ending the dominance of the whipping system, Whitehall power hoarding, and the “insidious briefing culture”. He warned that the party “won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.”

However, contradictions are already emerging. While Burnham aims to end factional briefings, his own supporters engaged in extensive briefing to undermine former leader Keir Starmer. Since taking office, disputes have erupted between the right and soft left over policy direction and job allocations. Ed Miliband, who helped propel Burnham to the leadership, was the target of vicious briefing by those who feared he would be too antagonistic to business as chancellor. Similarly, Shabana Mahmood, an alternative chancellor candidate, faced counter-briefing from the soft left painting her as too far right.

Deputy leader Lucy Powell told the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” that speculation over Miliband’s possible chancellorship had been “really quite horrible, to be honest, and unedifying”. She claimed Labour had handled the leadership crisis with “consensus”, adding that journalists might be exaggerating tensions due to a lack of other stories. Yet her implication that reporting internal disagreements should be suppressed runs counter to Burnham’s desire to make Labour a broad church that accepts differing views.

Given the leadership transition from Starmer to Burnham occurred without a proper contest or election, it is unrealistic to expect all strategic discussions to stay behind closed doors. Labour’s right and left hold starkly different views on welfare, immigration, and public spending. Burnham may be all-powerful now, but to realise his idealistic goals of ending factionalism and briefing wars, he will need to maintain an extremely tight grip on his party and government.