Andy Burnham Insists He Was Not Part Of Plan To Oust Keir Starmer

Andy Burnham has insisted he “wasn’t in the position to be involved” in the Parliamentary Labour Party’s decision to oust Keir Starmer as prime minister.

In his first speech as the new Labour leader – and three days before getting the keys to No.10 – the Makerfield MP distanced himself from the internal turmoil which engulfed his predecessor.

He said he would now work to bring the party together and stop any in-fighting.

He claimed his party would “put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to bring them hope again.”

Reporters later asked if it was right for him to talk about ending the friction within Labour after helping kick Starmer out of office.

“Well, there was obviously a decision taken by the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party],” he said.

“It wasn’t by me… I wasn’t in parliament. I wasn’t in the position to be involved in that in terms of the decisions that the PLP came to. But obviously, in politics, you have to respond to the big moments.

“The May elections were a big moment, but it was up to our members of parliament, and obviously I then responded.”

Burnham was the mayor of Greater Manchester up until he won the Makerfield by-election last month.

However, that contest was triggered by previous Labour MP Josh Simons who stood aside so Burnham could get a path to the Commons – and then oust Starmer.

Burnham’s comfortable win in Makerfield galvanised support for him and prompted Starmer’s resignation shortly afterwards.

The former mayor tried to run for parliament back in February in the Gorton and Denton by-election as well, but was blocked by Labour’s executive party and Starmer.

Burnham’s top ally, ex-transport secretary Louise Haigh, also triggered backlash this week when she suggested she had been working for a year behind the scenes to get Burnham into power.

“He has been thinking about this and certainly planning for this, for this moment, for at least the last year,” she told the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, though admitted the route only became clear after Labour’s terrible election results in May.

It comes after there was widespread speculation at the September 2025 Labour Party conference that Burnham was gaining momentum as a possible successor to Starmer.

Burnham praised Starmer’s legacy earlier on Friday, too, telling reporters: “Obviously, we’ve already brought change. We’ve obviously got our MPs here today,” he said.

“We’ve been working hard with the Labour government, and we’ve changed things already.

“We’ve brought NHS waiting lists down, finally getting going in the right direction.

“They’ve been going in the wrong direction since I was the health secretary a long time ago, but it’s good to see that change coming through.

“Rights for workers, rights for renters, rail renationalised – that was a really important thing that the government has done – and only this week we passed the Hillsborough law… so no one in this country goes through what they did.”

He added that Starmer “leaves a legacy of a country that will be about justice and fairness going forward, and that is a huge thing, but we’ve got much more change to bring”.

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