How fast is Andy Burnham? Labour mayor shares 10km and marathon times

The possible Labour leadership contender, 56, was frequently snapped jogging outside his Manchester home as speculation mounted that he might want to contest the vacant seat.

A field of candidates has now been compiled for the by-election on June 18, but while contenders are swapping policies, there is also an emerging debate about Burnham's running form.

The mayor said in an Instagram video on Sunday: "I did the Manchester 10km this morning, 53 minutes, not too bad."

A closer inspection of the results sheet saw that Burnham clocked 53 minutes 15 seconds.

According to Running Level, for a 55-year-old, an "intermediate time" would be 54 minutes and 53 seconds, this being well beyond the novice and beginner times.

It is not known if this was a personal best for Mr Burnham, but he has won plaudits for the performance.

"Regardless on your thoughts on his politics, that is a class time for a 56-year-old," one wrote on Twitter.

Another added: "By eck lad, you ‘ad your Ready Brek didn’t you?"

Mr Burnham shared his time in response to claims made in the Daily Mail that his running had been performative.

As well as running the Manchester 10km most years, Mr Burnham has run two of the Abbott World Marathon Majors – London in 2014 and Boston in 2019, finishing the former in 4 hours 26 minutes and the latter in 5 hours 13 minutes.

Sir Sadiq Khan also ran in London in 2014, and completed it in 4 hours 19 minutes.

But the Mayor of London cannot claim to have been the fastest ever in politics.

Lord Sebastian Coe, a former Olympic 1,500m champion, was a Tory MP from 1992 to 1997.

But during Lord Coe's 1980s heydey, Matthew Parris ran a 2 hours 32 minute marathon, while MP for Derbyshire West.