‘There is no Labour heartland left now’: an exclusive interview with Green’s mayoral candidate

Dear readers — say what you will about Starmer, but it was kind of him to resign on a Monday just as we were scratching our heads, thinking what to put in our newsletter.

Our update on the PM that was (and the PM to be) comes to you alongside the following: the official line from GMP on whether or not they’ll be ‘dancing around with environmental protestors’; a “hot stuff” weather warning from guerilla weatherman Martin Miles; the best place to get a caesar salad and feel like you’re in a mid century furniture shop; and finally, an ultra-exclusive sneak peek from our interview with Green mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins, who we spoke to just hours ago — her first official press interview since she was unveiled as candidate on Saturday. With two weeks to go until she reveals her manifesto (and only four-and-a-bit till the election), our chat raised two questions: is this set to be another vibes-based campaign for the Greens (à la Gorton and Denton) and, if so, has Coggins got the right vibe to pull it off? That’s down below!

Everything falls into place for Burnham

Keir Starmer resigned as Prime Minister this morning, vacating the role on the same day Andy Burnham arrived in Westminster to be sworn in as MP for Makerfield. In an emotional address, Starmer said a new leader would be in place by the time Parliament comes back from summer recess in September. Burnham responded to the resignation by thanking Starmer for his service and saying “his decision marks the beginning of a transition and it is important that this process is conducted in an orderly and responsible way. I will put myself forward as part of this process.” Not that it seems like there will be much of a process; Wes Streeting, the only other challenger, has rowed in behind Burnham. In a statement he said “we were elected to change our country, to show that politics can be a force for good, and to spread opportunity for everyone. With Andy, we still can.”

The nominations for a leadership race won’t open until 9 July. Unless another contender throws their hat in the ring, Burnham will effectively be coronated as Prime Minister. That could be as early as 17 July, according to the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot. But the intervening period from now until then will be interesting; it opens a window for the country to scrutinise every nook and cranny of Burnham’s time as mayor and his ideas for government. Which if you ask us isn’t a bad thing.

Over the last few days, The Mill’s reporting on the by-elections recent and imminent have been referenced in the Guardian and overseas in the Atlantic. Mill boss Joshi wrote in the Observer about how Burnham’s successor will be walking into a role that has undergone big changes during his tenure, developing more powers that will need a different kind of leader to marshall, and one who will benefit from Burnham being in No.10. But who might be the new mayor? We put out our most complete list of possible candidates last Friday — which includes our exclusive on who Restore Britain is putting forward. Read that here.

‘The Queen, God, and Mrs Watson’

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson has insisted that the force does not operate a “two-tier” policing system, but admits that policy has “over-corrected”. In an interview with the MEN he explains that the reason why he’s been colloquially dubbed the “anti-woke Chief Constable” is because he had “the temerity to say ‘no, we won’t take the knee, no, we’re not going to wear rainbow coloured lanyards, no, we're not going to dance around with environmental protesters'.” This is something of a recurring line for Watson. In 2021, he made clear to the Telegraph that he would take the knee only for “the Queen, God, and Mrs Watson.”

Spend the Lord’s day right

And now the biggest news of the week: soon, and for the first time in 15 years, you’ll be able to visit Central Library on a Sunday. Starting from September, Chorlton, Longsight, Newton Heath and Withington Libraries will all be opening on the Lord’s Day during the Lord’s Hours (that’s midday till four in the afternoon), and come January, Central, Didsbury, Forum and North City will follow suit. Sunday openings were halted back in 2011 when Manchester (and the rest of the UK) was hit with aggressive budget cuts. Now, as well as the new Sunday-openers, nine further libraries will be extending their opening hours thanks to an improved council budget giving libraries a £1.7m bonus.

Thing of the week

The Mill had a delightful mid-week lunch at Side Street this past week, sharing a steak and brie sandwich (think more rare roast beef, sliced super thin) with some fries and a rarely well-balanced Caesar (sometimes there’s too much dressing, sometimes not enough! Neither problem here). We heartily recommend. Menu here.

Weather

This from Guerilla Weatherman Martin Miles: “Hot stuff this week. Keep cool and have a good week.”

Tuesday ☀️ Dry and hot with long spells of sunshine. Light winds. Max 33°c.

Wednesday ☀️ Exceptionally hot with mostly sunny skies and light winds. Max 35°c.

Thursday 🌦️ Breezy with further exceptional heat and large amounts of sunshine. Showers during the evening. Max 37°c.

Friday 🌤️ Dry and very warm with sunny spells. Breezy. Max 28°c.

Weekend 🌤️ Remaining mostly dry with long periods of sunshine, although feeling much fresher as temperatures fall back to average. 

Home of the week

We’ve chosen this 3-bed in Fallowfield just because of how oddly long it looks in the photographs. £300,000.

You had the plumber. Now here’s the kitchen sink…

Following her (official) unveiling as the Greens’ mayoral candidate on Saturday, we managed to grab Geraldine Coggins this morning for her first official press interview. You can expect a full profile from us once we’ve chatted to her friends and enemies and the like, but for now here’s an exclusive look into our chat with the candidate who’s promising to “throw the kitchen sink” at this by-election.