Keir Starmer Ally Urges Andy Burnham To Drop MP Ambitions

A close ally of Keir Starmer has told Andy Burnham to forget trying to become a Labour MP again before the next general election.

Supporters of the Greater Manchester mayor want him back in Westminster within months so he can challenge for the Labour leadership.

Burnham was an MP until 2017, but left parliament to pursue his mayoral ambitions.

He is understood to have held talks with Labour MPs who would be willing to stand down so he can stand in the resulting by-election.

He tried to be Labour’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February but was blocked by the party’s ruling national executive council (NEC) at the behest of Starmer.

On Radio 4′s Today programme, business secretary Peter Kyle said: “The reason that Andy Burnham is not in parliament is not because of Keir Starmer, it’s because Andy Burnham decided to leave parliament, to give up his seat.

“He went to Manchester and he made a series of commitments to Manchester and I think those commitments should be seen through.

“Whether he comes back or not is a matter for the NEC, it’s not a matter for the prime minister or myself.

“But my own personal view is that there is a very long established pathway into parliament. I took it by standing as a candidate in 2015 in a Tory seat incidentally, I worked on a huge campaign with lots of people and I won and worked my way back in here.

“That’s the standard way back into parliament, and I think right now, after what we’ve been through last week, to suggest that the answer is to have another by-election and then a mayoral election, and all the uncertainty that would go with it, my personal view is that this is not the time for those types of actions and distractions.”

His comments came as Starmer prepares to deliver a make-or-break speech setting out how he plans to turn around Labour’s fortunes after last week’s local election drubbing.

More than 40 Labour MPs have called on the PM to set out a timetable for his departure since then, and Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner are among those also weighing up potential leadership bids.

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