Celebrations and a swift exit after a Burnham win ‘beyond our wildest dreams’

After partying into the early hours, supporters were back for the new Makerfield MP’s victory rally which ended with a madcap escape

There was plenty of the hopey, changey stuff from Andy Burnham at his victory rally on the morning after the night before – but it ended with the new MP for Makerfield doing a runner. “Are you going to become the new prime minister?” shouted Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, at the retreating Burnham. “Keir Starmer says he is not going to give way – what’s your message for Keir Starmer?”

Hemmed in by cameras, chairs, tables and a whole load of the giggling supporters who had been assembled around him on the turf at Ashton Town FC’s grounds, Burnham picked up the pace.