Burnham 'setting out stall to challenge Starmer' with new campaign group
The Mayor of Greater Manchester has set up a new campaign group similar to one used by Sir Keir Starmer to win the Labour leadership
Andy Burnham is laying the groundwork for a Labour leadership bid amid growing speculation that Sir Keir Starmer will leave office before the next election, it has been claimed.
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The Labour Mayor for Greater Manchester has launched a new campaign group calling on the Government to tax wealth, nationalise utility companies, and end the two-child benefit cap.
The policy proposals are seen as a challenge from the left to Starmer's Government, which is considered too right-wing by many of its backbenchers and members.
The new network of Labour members, Mainstream, has been compared to Labour Together, the vehicle that Sir Keir used to win the Labour leadership in 2021.
The creation of the group is seen as the first steps towards a new leadership challenge from the Manchester mayor.
Mr Burnham's challenge to Starmer extends to his support for Lucy Powell in the Labour deputy leadership race rather than the Government's favoured candidate, Bridget Phillipson.
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Labour most high-profile mayor is also set to publicly criticise Starmer at the Labour party conference next month by calling for a reset of his Government, according to the Telegraph.
The potential challenge comes after a torrid week for Starmer.
The Prime Minister's judgement has been criticised by many over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador despite his public links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The sacking of Mandelson followed the resignation of Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner in what has been a chaotic return to Westminster following the summer recess.
One Labour backbencher suggested the Mandelson scandal could be "terminal" for Downing Street Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, but could also prove a serious problem for the Prime Minister.
They said: "I think Morgan McSweeney runs the show, and Keir just enables it and makes very bad decisions. I’m not sure how long this can continue though."
Another also suggested that problems in Number 10 went beyond the chief of staff. They said: "Even a Morgan problem is ultimately a Keir problem."
Downing Street said on Friday that the Prime Minister still had confidence in Mr McSweeney’s judgement.
"Of course the Prime Minister has confidence in his top team," a No 10 spokesman said.
The row over Mandelson could also rumble on further as he is understood to remain a government employee after refusing to resign - meaning that a damaging HR process could be needed to remove him entirely.
Whitehall sources told the Times the Government may be forced to prove that Lord Mandelson materially misled ministers and officials to avoid paying him a 'substantial' taxpayer-funded payout.
Clive Lewis became the first Labour MP to openly question Sir Keir's future in the top job on Friday.
The MP for Norwich South said his fellow Labour MPs were feeling "concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten" and that there was a "very dangerous atmosphere" in the parliamentary Labour party.
He told reporters: "You see a Labour Prime Minister who feels that he's lost control within the first year.
"This isn't navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me. It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country.
"We don't have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think increasingly, I'm sorry to say, just doesn't seem up to the job."