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Andy Burnham’s letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party

Dear Colleague

RECONNECTING LABOUR

Yesterday I announced my intention to seek enough support to be able to go forward as a candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party.

It is a big step but one I am ready to take. I have been a proud member of the Party for 25 years. In that time, I have served it at every level. In the last five years, I have held demanding Ministerial briefs, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Throughout all the ups and downs of Government, I always put loyalty to the Party and both leaders first and foremost.

My reason for standing is because I have a clear vision of how I think we need to rebuild our Party for new times. We must become a more modern, open and campaigning force for good.

We must reconnect with our own members and grassroots, bringing the wider Labour family back together.

We must reconnect with young people. I want it always to be the case that Labour is where all young people look first if they want to change the world.

And, above all, we must reconnect with the people who have lost confidence in Labour in recent years. I believe I can reach those people and ensure that their concerns are always our concerns.

I will use my campaign to show how I would change the Party as leader.

‘Reconnecting Labour’ will invite the public to give me ideas for Labour’s future. If we can involve the public in this debate, they will feel a greater sense of ownership of the changes we make. That will help us be an effective Opposition and then an effective Government.

What I bring to the contest is a passion for Labour: its values, its history, but, most importantly, its future. I want to ensure that people like me, wherever they are from and whatever their background, have the opportunities that I had. That’s why I joined 25 years ago and why I want to lead it now.

I am proud of our record in Government. But we must learn lesson and move forward. The changing political landscape presents a huge opportunity for Labour. Together we can make Labour the unifying force for all those who want to live in a country with a fairer spread of health, wealth and life chances.

I hope that you can support my candidacy.

Yours sincerely

Andy Burnham


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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 8:29 am and is filed under Inside. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


2 Responses to “Andy Burnham’s letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party”

  1. Ian Hunt says:
    May 22, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    I support Andy Burnham’s bid for the Labour leadership.

  2. Colin Grace says:
    May 23, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Andy’s a front runner and will make the necessary impact over the coming weeks to propel himself into the top 3..I can’t see Ed Balls making a fight of this campaign. Then when confronted with the Millibrands then we’ll see some real good old style Labour debates on key principles and policies.

    The Milibrand brothers lack real passion and conviction when it comes to holding up Labours core values and by now we are all getting fed up of our leading poiliticans sounding more like actors rather than people capable of delivering the next phase of social and economic change.

    My money is on Burnham to come up on the rails and take the Labour vote in the final ballot

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