Even on The Last Leg which has been pretty damning of Starmer since he became PM pointed out that appointing Mandelson was probably because ( and this has always been my opinion of it) you can only fight fire with fire. And I still think not allowing Burnham to stand in that by election was the right decision. He made a commitment to the people of Manchester and imo he should adhere to it. It was his choice to stop being an MP and he wasn’t chosen to be party leader twice.
