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A fake email claiming that at least 11 Labour MPs are ready to resign their seats and trigger by-elections in protest at Keir Starmer’s leadership was sent to parliamentarians on Thursday morning.
The email purported to be from the ‘Mainstream’ campaign group set up last year, which is associated with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and other figures from the Labour left and soft left.
It was sent from [email protected], which appears to deliberately approximate the real email address of the group that ends in mainstreamlabour.org.
The message noted that Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) officers had, at the encouragement of Starmer, blocked Burnham from standing as the Labour candidate in the ongoing Gorton and Denton by-election.
It described this move as “not only a profound political mistake but a serious breach of the democratic principles Labour was founded to uphold”.
The email went on to accuse the government of having “lost its moral authority” and Labour of “approaching a point of no return”.
“For that reason, on 20 November, the Mainstream Coalition will be organising a coordinated parliamentary walkout in protest of Starmer’s direction. Participating MPs will resign their seats and stand again in the ensuing by-elections,” it claimed.
“The 11 sitting Mainstream MPs have already confirmed their participation. We are now extending a confidential invitation to all Labour MPs to join us.”
The communication to Labour MPs has been reported to the police by Mainstream, which suggested in a statement that it believes it was faked by people from a different wing of the Labour Party, described as “bad faith actors driven by factionalism”.
Commenting on the incident, the Mainstream group said: “This morning, a fake email was sent to Labour MPs purporting to be from Mainstream, calling for a parliamentary walkout in November.
“This has been reported to the police. The email was not sent by Mainstream, or anyone associated with Mainstream. The address it was sent from is not one owned by us.
“Clearly, bad faith actors driven by factionalism are seeking to undermine the work that Mainstream is doing with MPs and others from all across the Labour Party to build the ideas, strategy and culture to make our time in government as transformative as possible – and put us on a firm footing in 2029.”
Burnham made clear last month that he was unhappy with the decision to block his candidacy, but the mayor has since been highly visible in the by-election campaign and this week backed Starmer staying as Prime Minister while urging the government to be more ambitious on policy.
