Burnham batters Reform - next stop Number 10?

Overnight in Makerfield, Andy Burnham showed how to win more than fifty percent of the vote on the Labour ticket. It was political smack for his party. A reminder that they still have the electoral chemistry to win decisively in tight races where Reform has stormed in the past.

Keir Starmer is pretending nothing big has happened - and said Reform were already on the wane. He is refusing to make way for Burnham - who is rather hoping for a coronation rather than a bloody contest. So who will fire the first shot'? And when? Is it just a matter of choreography? Or are things about to get messy?

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