Keir Starmer Refuses To Say If He Would Back Andy Burnham Running To Be An MP

Keir Starmer has refused to say he would support Labour’sAndy Burnham if the mayor of Greater Manchester chooses to stand as an MP.

It comes after a possible route for Burnham to return to Westminster opened up as Andrew Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton, announced he is quitting parliament on health grounds.

This will trigger a by-election in the seat and give the Manchester mayor a chance to get back into the Commons.

Burnham – who left Westminster nine years ago – has been a frequent critic of Starmer’s government.

He has also made little secret of his desire to become an MP again and has never ruled out making a third Labour leadership bid.

The prime minister did not jump at the chance to endorse the idea of Burnham returning to the Commons.

According to Press Association, the prime minister said: “It is a very early stage, and the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party will set out the process in the usual way, as it always does for by-elections.”

Labour rules mean a short-list of candidates is always drawn up by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) before a by-election.

Local party officials in Gorton and Denton would then have the final say on who their candidate is, with the by-election expected to be held on the same day as local elections across the UK on May 7.

Starmer continued: “Andy Burnham is doing an excellent job as mayor of Manchester. We work very closely together.

“Last year, we were responding together to the terrible attack on a synagogue in Manchester.

“More recently, we were working together on Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“I think Andy would acknowledge that working with this government has been much better than the experience he had of working with previous governments.”

Senior Labour figures have also told HuffPost UK that the NEC should block any attempts from Burnham to come back, with one saying there was “zero” chance of him being shortlisted.

Burnham, seen to be on the soft-left of the Labour Party, used to be the MP for Leigh between 2001 and 2017.

He held multiple ministerial jobs under Tony Blair, sat on the cabinet under Gordon Brown, and had a role in the shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband.

Burnham has not yet responded to the news around Gwynne.

One of his allies said: “We’ve not been in touch with anyone and aren’t aware of what is developing. We’re not in any loop.”