Andy Burnham eyes MP seat amid rumours of a leadership challenge
The mayor of Greater Manchester is rumoured to have identified a seat after meetings with MPs.
Andy Burnham is looking to return as an MP before May’s local elections - when Labour losses could trigger a leadership crisis for Sir Keir Starmer.
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The mayor of Greater Manchester is rumoured to have identified a seat after meetings with MPs.
Mr Burnham is even canvassing support for a leadership challenge, according to sources, and allies have apparently reached out to members of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, which includes Richard Burgon, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell.
One MP said there were a “number of potential options open to him” and he has identified a seat which is “nailed on”.
Last week Mr Burnham told ITV News that “if the call came” to return to government “I’m not going to just turn away from it”.
Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, backed Burnham for leader, saying Starmer’s successor should not be a member of the cabinet.
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He said the next leader needed to be “somebody who isn’t implicated in any of the unpopular decisions”.
“The reality is, if we do well in the elections in May, and we should do … then the prime minister, I’m sure, will be safe in his position.
"If we don’t do well, obviously people will start to intensify talk of a replacement. But if we’re in that situation [in] May, I think anybody who has been seen as being part of the problem in the eyes of the public would struggle to make a clean break.
"So, when you look at the names of current MPs [in] the cabinet or [who have] been in the cabinet recently, they haven’t got that distance from the prime minister.”
Reports also indicate that Mr Burnham's allies have reached out to Angela Rayner, former deputy leader of the party, in the hopes of making a pact, so as not to split the party's left.
Other potential challengers to Sir Keir, including the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, could also force a leadership content before the May elections.
A senior Labour MP told The Times: “If you are, Wes, what are you waiting for? The path to power is only going to get more crowded and MPs are getting increasingly worried about what’s going to happen in May. Changing the leader before then might at least save a few seats.”
Triggering a leadership competition would require the support of at least 80 Labour MPs.