Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was prevented by his own party from running in an upcoming by-election amid rumours that he would have used his seat to launch a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Burnham, a longtime Westminster swamp creature who has since attempted to rebrand himself as a London outsider and the so-called “King of the North”, said on X on Saturday evening that he would seek to run for the impending Gorton & Denton by-election triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne over leaked messages maligning British voters.
Burnham said that if he were to return to Parliament, he would seek to use his “support the work of the Government, not undermine it.” Burnham said that he had “passed on this assurance to the Prime Minister.”
However, the Mayor of Greater Manchester needed permission from the Labour Party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) to be able to step down from his current role and run in the race. On Sunday, a special committee of the NEC, including Prime Minister Starmer, voted by an 8 to 1 margin to reject Burnham’s candidacy, The Times reported.
This comes despite other high-profile Labour figures, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, deputy leader Lucy Powell, and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, publicly supporting Burnham’s request to run for the open seat.
While the move by Starmer loyalists to block the mayor’s candidacy may have fended off a challenge from Burnham in the immediate future, as he needs to be a sitting MP to replace Starmer as party leader, if the narrative emerges that the PM put his thumb on the scales to prevent the popular mayor from entering the race, it could spark a rebellion within his backbenches and thus increase his odds of being toppled.
Indeed, Burnham was not alone in being tipped by the Westminster rumour mill to be eyeing the top job. Other names tipped to be plotting a challenge have included Rayner and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has reportedly already secured the support of up to 200 Labour MPs in the event of a leadership contest.
The internal Labour Party drama comes ahead of critical local elections in May, which will represent the first major litmus test for Starmer since coming to power last year. Should the party suffer many losses to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, a full-on leadership challenge would likely follow.
Having failed to deliver on key issues such as the economy and immigration, the government has seen its approval crater, with a recent survey finding just 12 per cent of voters were happy with the government’s performance. It is therefore unsurprising that a majority of voters also believe that Starmer will be forced out of office by the end of the year.
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