John Bercow is leafletting for the Burnham campaign up in Makerfield today, despite his ongoing suspension from the Labour Party pending an internal investigation into bullying claims. This must be the most forensic investigation in British history, because it has been ongoing for 1,564 days (over 4 years in old money). Even though a parliamentary probe already upheld the claims several years ago…
Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan have also caught the train up to Wigan in recent days, as if the people of Makerfield haven’t suffered enough. There’s a lot at stake for Bercow. ‘Please Andy, please. Gis a peerage…’
Polls close at 10pm. Team Burnham is quietly confident, but nobody is popping the champagne just yet. The result is expected at around 4am. Some in Reform think it could take even longer. A long night ahead…
| POLLS | LABOUR | REFORM | RESTORE | LEAD |
| Convergent Times/Sun Times · 2–12 June | 49 | 37 | 5 | +12 |
| Opinium Forward Democracy · 3–11 June | 46 | 41 | 7 | +5 |
| More in Common/UCL 28 May–12 June | 45 | 40 | 8 | +5 |
| Survation Times/Sun Times · 26 May–1 June | 49 | 39 | 8 | +10 |
| Survation Times/Sun Times · 18–22 May | 43 | 40 | 7 | +3 |
| Average | 46 | 39 | 7 | +7 |
| BOOKIES | LABOUR | REFORM | RESTORE | LAB % |
| bet365 polls open, 18 Jun | 1/10 | 11/2 | 16/1 | 91% |
| Betfred 17 Jun | 1/6 | 5/1 | 20/1 | 86% |
| William Hill late campaign | 1/4 | 3/1 | 20/1 | 80% |
| Betfair Exchange 16 Jun | 1/4 | 9/2 | 22/1 | 79% |
The bookies think it’s a done deal…
Justice minister Jake Richards has deleted a swathe of historic tweets critical of Andy Burnham. Along with the rest of the Parliamentary Labour Party doing a digital spring clean…
Richards was up in Makerfield on Saturday to campaign for Burnham, despite having said that the Manchester mayor despite thinking is “jezza-lite” and “has the antenna of a dead cat.” He wants to keep his job now…
Richards has left a smattering of Burnham-sceptic material on his X history. Or is that going to go, too?
Bill Yuen was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service in the UK under the National Security Act 2023. Peter Wai received a 10-year sentence for the same offence, as well as misconduct in public office relating to his role as a UK Border Force officer. The judge said the pair’s actions on behalf of China were “deliberate, concerted and serious“:
“Conduct of that kind threatens not only individual victims but the sovereignty of the state and public confidence…”
Both will serve at least two-thirds of their terms before being eligible for release.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England has voted to hold interest rates at 3.75% for the fourth time. As expected…
Seven votes for hold and two votes for a hike. “Bank staff estimated that underlying quarterly GDP growth had been around 0.2% in Q1, and would remain at around that rate in Q2.” Read the full remarks here…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
