New mayor Andy Burnham ‘SNUBS’ Jeremy Corbyn’s Manchester celebrations
EMBATTLED Jeremy Corbyn was left red-faced after he appeared to be snubbed by Andy Burnham at a planned joint rally to celebrate the mayoral victory in Manchester.
Jeremy Corbyn celebrated the mayoral victory without Andy Burnham
After a miserable local election night the opposition leader had hoped to enjoy one of his parties few victories but was left floundering after Mr Burnham did not show up.
The Labour leader, at the rally, said: “I have been in touch with Andy to congratulate him and he's already hard at work on behalf of the people of the Greater Manchester region.
Our message now has to be to challenge the Tories. Absolutely challenge them
“And I congratulate all our mayoral candidates for the work they did.
“Our message now has to be to challenge the Tories. Absolutely challenge them.”
Corbyn celebrates Andy Burnham's victory without Burnham
Sadly for Mr Corbyn, a picture on Twitter seemed to suggest the former Leigh MP was enjoying celebratory drinks with his team at a bar.
Mr Burnham, a former Health Secretary, was easily elected Greater Manchester's first metro-mayor with well over half the votes.
He was not the only one absent from the even as the Labour candidate for Manchester Central, Lucy Powell, claimed she was not invited - despite the event taking place in her constituency.
On Twitter, she wrote that Mr Corbyn's office had called to apologise for the "simple mistake".
Mr Corbyn was previously branded “cowardly and selfish” after he failed to take responsibility for Labour's local election wipeout, leaving local activists to take the blame.
One Labour candidate said: “Any self respecting leader would look at these results and resign. He's obviously not going anywhere but the Corbyn vanity project is leading Labour off a cliff edge.
The candidate for Manchester Central was not invited to a rally on her own doorstep
“It is selfish and cowardly and he is hiding behind activists, blaming them for these losses when it's him who goes down badly on the doorstep.”
Labour lost 320 council seats, alongside the West Midlands, Tee Valley and West of England mayoral races that it had been confident about winning.
Poor organisation has blighted the Corbyn campaign
Mr Burham claimed he had a prior engagement which had prevented him attending celebrating Mr Corbyn’s event, which was reportedly mentioned to Labour HQ.
Express.co.uk has contacted Mr Burham for comment.