Labour MP offers to give up seat for Burnham in bid to replace Starmer as he calls on PM to quit
Clive Lewis MP urged Sir Keir Starmer to “put country before party” and quit.
A Labour MP has offered to give up his seat to allow Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to challenge Keir Starmer for the party leadership - as pressure mounts on the Prime Minister to quit.
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Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, said the PM's situation is “not tenable” and urged him to “put country before party” and quit.
Mr Burnham has been touted as a possible successor to the premier, but would need to return to the Commons as an MP before launching a bid for the top job.
Mr Lewis has added his name to the growing list calling for Mr Burnham to be made leader and indicated he could vacate his Norwich South seat, which he has held since 2015, for the former New Labour minister.
He said: “It’s a question I’ve asked myself, and I’d have to obviously consult with my wife as well and family, but do you know what, If I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I?”
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Mr Burnham, the ex-MP for Leigh, has dropped repeated hints he was eyeing a Westminster comeback ahead of Labour’s September conference.
Speaking to LBC, West Streeting described Mr Lewis’ comments as “peculiar”.
He told Tom Swarbrick at Drive: “I've got a lot of time for Andy and I think we need our best players on the pitch - and whether he's doing that as mayor of Greater Manchester or whether he wants to come back into Parliament in the next general election, that is an issue for Andy.
“I think it's a bit of a peculiar thing for Clive to have said to his own constituents ‘oh, well, I'm not interested in being your MP.”
It comes after last week’s extraordinary Labour briefing war over alleged manoeuvring by Cabinet ministers, which focused fresh attention on Sir Keir’s position.
Reportedly false allegations that Mr Streeting was leading a coup against the Prime Minister sparked a civil war within Labour, leading many Cabinet ministers to demand that Sir Keir sack his chief aide Morgan McSweeney.
Sir Keir has since insisted he will lead Labour into the next general election.
Asked if he would lead Labour into the next general election, Sir Keir said: "Yes, I will. Let me be really clear - every minute that's not spent talking about and dealing with the cost of living is a minute wasted of the political work of this Government.
"That's my response to last week. I remain utterly focused on what matters to me most, which is bearing down on the cost of living and making people feel better off."
The Prime Minister's assertion that he would stay in place until the next election came as a YouGov poll of 2,100 people for the Times suggested 23% of the party's voters think he should quit now.
A further 22% think he should stand down before the next election, due in 2029 at the latest, while only 34% think he should lead Labour then.