Thread by @jodymcintyre_

With Keir Starmer in meltdown mode, this man is being presented as the saviour of the Labour Party.

But did you know that last time Andy Burnham stood for leader, he pledged that his FIRST foreign trip would be to Israel?

Here’s what else I’ve discovered:🧵

During the last Labour administration, Andy Burnham’s principal adviser was Jennifer Gerber.

In 2010, Gerber was appointed director of lobby group Labour Friends of Israel, which she led for the next decade.

LFI refuses to reveal its donors.

In 2016, then Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham was one of the Labour MPs who “flocked” to support Labour Friends of Israel under Jennifer Gerber’s leadership.

He was joined by then Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, Jess Phillips, and Dan Jarvis, amongst others.

Gerber previously led Progress, a Labour Party pressure group reportedly founded by Epstein-associate Peter Mandelson.

The group received millions from David Sainsbury, a major backer of the Labour Together think tank.

They were also funded by pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

In 2021, Progress merged with Policy Network, another Peter Mandelson think tank, and changed their name to Progressive Britain.

The group is currently led by Adam Langleben, a former national secretary of the Jewish Labour Movement.

When Jennifer Gerber stepped down from Labour Friends of Israel in 2020, she praised Keir Starmer for “[committing to] fully rooting out the…Israel obsession in the party.”

In his first meeting with LFI as party leader, Starmer pledged to travel to Israel with the lobby group.

At the time, Keir Starmer thanked the secretive lobby group for “the crucial role they play in the Labour Party”.

Now, Andy Burnham, a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel who voted for Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq, seeks to depose him.

But Andy Burnham has tried to become Labour leader twice before.

In 2015, his leadership bid was supported by Dan Jarvis, another parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel.

Jarvis has been funded by Martin Taylor, a major backer of Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together.

Andy Burnham’s 2015 leadership campaign received over £130,000 in private donations.

One of his funders was Michael Sternberg, who has also financed Labour’s current Courts Minister, Sarah Sackman.

Sackman previously worked as a judicial clerk at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Michael Sternberg also gave £5000 to Labour’s current Middle East Secretary, Hamish Falconer.

Falconer received another £5000 from Labour Together Limited.

Mike Craven, a former press officer to Tony Blair and current board member of Labour Together, gave Falconer £13,900.

Hamish Falconer received £4600 from a group called “SME 4 Labour”.

In the run up to the 2024 general election, with a view to helping Keir Starmer secure a parliamentary majority, SME 4 Labour held a fundraising dinner in London with Jeffrey Epstein’s “best pal” Peter Mandelson.

For the 2024 election, SME 4 Labour had identified Scotland as a “crucial” target.

Labour MP for Rutherglen Michael Shanks received £4000 from Michael Sternberg.

Shanks was also one of several Scottish Labour MPs who received £10k from Labour Together to fund their campaigns.

Another funder of Andy Burnham’s 2015 Labour leadership campaign was Howard Borrington.

For 22 years, Borrington was Director of UK Government Affairs at arms firm MBDA, the “world leader in missiles and missile systems”.

Before that, he spent almost 16 years at BAE Systems.

In 2010, Burnham stood against Ed Miliband and lost.

In 2015, Burnham promised that if he won, he “would involve Jeremy [Corbyn] in my team from the outset.”

As recently as February, he was publicly backing Keir Starmer.

Andy Burnham will say ANYTHING to get into power.

After the bloodbath of last week’s council, Scottish, and Welsh elections, it is clear that Keir Starmer has lost any mandate to rule.

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