Burnham's had his celeb mates on the campaign trail and MPs flood up in last ditch effort - but Reeves steers clear

By SOPHIE CHURCH - POLITICAL REPORTER and CHRISTIAN CALGIE, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE Published: 22:01, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 22:17, 18 June 2026 Andy Burnham organised celebrities to campaign with him in Makerfield in a last-ditch attempt to win over voters ahead of polling day. Mr Burnham was joined by actor Hugh Grant and comedian Steve Coogan in the dying throes of the by-election campaign, as he said he was ‘fighting on every front’ to win. Mr Grant was spotted on the eve of polling day attending a rally at Mr Burnham’s Makerfield campaign headquarters, where Labour’s candidate promised to ‘change politics’. Comedian Steve Coogan meanwhile joined the Manchester Mayor on the doorstep days earlier. Mr Coogan said: ‘Andy wanted a slightly classier celebrity to endorse his campaign, but he had to put up with me instead.’ The so-called ‘King in the North’ has used the Makerfield by-election as a route back to Westminster – from where he is expected to challenge Sir Keir for the leadership if successful. But the celebrities’ presence has raised fears Mr Burnham will launch a second stage of the Leveson inquiry – which investigated allegations of unlawful information gathering by the Daily Mail and other press outlets – if he gains the keys of No 10. Both stars are linked to the Hacked Off campaign, which was created in response to allegations of phone hacking by the media. Hugh Grant was spotted on the eve of polling day attending a rally at Mr Burnham’s Makerfield campaign headquarters, where Labour ’s candidate promised to ‘change politics’ Comedian Steve Coogan (back left) joined the Manchester Mayor on the doorstep  Andy Burnham organised celebrities to campaign with him in Makerfield in a last-ditch attempt to win over voters ahead of polling day Shamed former commons speaker John Bercow was also spotted campaigning for Mr Burnham in Makerfield, sparking outrage from onlookers. Despite being administratively suspended by the Labour Party four years ago following a damning bullying report into his behaviour while serving as speaker, Mr Bercow was photographed leaving Mr Burnham's campaign headquarters in Makerfield. According to Labour sources, a ‘sizeable chunk’ of Labour backbenchers on Thursday travelled to the Greater Manchester constituency to rally behind Mr Burnham. The party also had a ‘four figure number of activists’ out pounding the streets, and were making 120 ‘contacts’ with Makerfield residents every minute. And both Cabinet members and backbenchers rushed to Mr Burnham’s side on Thursday in a show of fealty to the Manchester Mayor – who will likely shuffle favoured allies into top jobs if he becomes PM. Lucy Powell – who beat Sir Keir’s preferred candidate Bridget Phillipson in Labour’s deputy leadership contest – was pictured at Mr Burnham’s campaign HQ, as was Al Carns, who quit as armed forces minister last week. Angela Rayner and Natalie Fleet were also out knocking doors for the Manchester Mayor. While Starmer loyalist Darren Jones was lending a hand in Makerfield on Thursday, Rachel Reeves – whose fate in government is intimately bound with Sir Keir’s – was in Westminster yesterday morning. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.