Sadiq Khan acknowledges Burnham's 'legitimate concerns' about PM - as he reveals plans to stand for London Mayor again
Sir Sadiq's comments come after Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said MPs are privately urging him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
Sir Sadiq Khan said he recognises Andy Burnham's "legitimate concerns" about the Prime Minister, but has confirmed he has no intentions of standing for parliament himself.
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Answering a question about his own political ambitions on Speak to Sadiq on LBC, the London mayor said he has the "best job in politics" so there is "no reason" he'd give it up.
He confirmed it is his intention to run for a fourth term, and said: "I love what I'm doing, and Londoners have lent me their votes, not on one, not on two, but on three occasions. As long as I continue to feel I can deliver for this great city of ours, I'll carry on being the mayor."
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Sir Sadiq's comments come after Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said MPs are privately urging him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership in an intervention that has fuelled speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster.
Speaking of Mr Burnham's recent comments, Sir Sadiq said: "I think Andy's raising legitimate concerns... and he's entitled to do so."
Asked by James O’Brien whether Mr Burnham was going further than that and manoeuvring for leadership of the Labour Party, Sir Sadiq said that was “your characterisation”.
Mr Burnham said the Labour government needed a "proper plan for the country", including one to beat Reform UK, and offered "to support the prime minister" in developing fresh policies.
Mr Burnham had detailed his politics of “aspirational socialism”, calling for more public control of housing, energy, water and rail, and to “get back to speaking to working-class ambition”.
He signalled a willingness to work with the Liberal Democrats and Jeremy Corbyn and told The Telegraph he believed Britain should introduce proportional representation to encourage co-operation within the “progressive majority”.
He argued for higher council tax on some homes in southern England and a 50p top rate of income tax, saying there was a “huge underpayment of tax that should now be corrected” in London and the South East because the rates were based on property valuations from 1991.
Asked if MPs had urged him to run for the top job, Mr Burnham revealed: “People have contacted me throughout the summer, yeah.
“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”
Sir Sadiq responded to the reports of MPs showing their support for Mr Burnham to challenge Sir Keir's leadership, saying: "I think we've got 400 MPs, so it won't be a surprise to anybody that there may be a small minority not happy with the leadership.
"I'm quite clear I'm going to conference next week, and the joy of conference when Labour is government, far outweighs, you know, any concerns people may have."
"I've no intentions of leaving this job for another job in politics," he confirmed.
