Sir Keir has been told to back away from a ‘London stitch up’ that would prevent Andy Burnham returning to Westminster – and potentially mounting a leadership challenge against him.
Labour MPs and union leaders went on the warpath amid claims Starmer loyalists are plotting to block the Greater Manchester mayor from standing in a by-election in his home city.
Mr Burnham, who has spent the past year publicly flirting with a return to Westminster, is seen as the leading candidate to replace Sir Keir as party leader and PM after a turbulent 18 months in power.
The self-styled ‘King of the North’ has yet to declare if he will run in Gorton and Denton after the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, but already party figures are trying to put roadblocks in his way.
Some sources have suggested that the shortlist for the by-election – which could be held on May 7 alongside local elections – may be made women or ethnic minority only to prevent him from being a candidate.
Others have suggested that Labour‘s ruling National Executive Committee, packed with Starmer loyalists, will block him in another way.
However, a Labour MP told Politico’s Playbook ‘it would seem quite small-dick energy from No. 10’ if Burnham was barred from running just to prevent him challenging the PM.
And Bassetlaw MP Jo White, leader of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, said: ‘Let the North decide who their Labour candidate should be for the Gorton and Denton by election. A London stitch up will be a disaster for Labour.’
She was backed by the new general secretary of the Unison union, who was expelled from Labour in 2022.
Andrea Egan said: ‘We’ve seen enough control-freakery in the Labour Party and it has done our movement nothing but harm.’
Starmer loyalists are said to be ready to prevent the Greater Manchester mayor from running in a by-election in a city seat vacated yesterday by disgraced former minister Andrew Gwynne
Mr Gwynne is leaving the Commons on medical grounds, which will trigger a by-election in his Gorton and Denton constituency
Today a senior minister heavily suggested that Mr Burnham should stay in his comfort zone in Greater Manchester, where his term as mayor runs until 2028.
Health and Social Care Stephen Kinnock pointedly told BBC Breakfast Burnham is ‘doing a great job in the role that he currently has’ and is ‘an incredibly talented and effective leader as the mayor of Greater Manchester’.
Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is already weighing up whether to use the PM’s majority on the NEC to block Mr Burnham as a candidate.
Party figures could also use the cost of running a mayoral election in Manchester against Mr Burnham. He will have to resign the role to even run in Gorton, and there are fears Reform could win in a major surge towards Nigel Farage’s party.
Labour won Gorton and Denton with a majority of more than 13,000 in the 2024 election, but it is now seen as a three-way marginal between Labour, Reform and the Green Party.
The PM yesterday refused to say whether he would support Mr Burnham’s candidacy.
But Union leaders critical of Sir Keir’s leadership warned against any attempt to ‘stitch up’ the nomination.
Fire Brigades Union chief Steve Wright said it would be ‘a democratic outrage if Andy Burnham was blocked from seeking selection as Labour’s by-election candidate in this seat’.
Mr Wright, whose union has a seat on the NEC, said he would ‘not stand by and allow senior Labour politicians like Andy to be carved out of this process’.
Mr Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017, is the favourite to replace Sir Keir among Labour Party members. But he can only challenge the leadership if he has a seat in Parliament.
The MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017, Mr Burnham has stood for leadership on two occasions and has made little secret of his ambition to replace Sir Keir, leading to a cold shoulder from many at last year’s party conference.
He refused to say yesterday whether he will seek to stand in Mr Gwynne’s Gorton and Denton constituency, claiming he had been ‘in the dark’ about his colleague’s intentions.
But his allies told The Mail on Sunday last month he was poised to secure a deal to fight a by-election to return to the Commons.
Mr Gwynne was suspended by Labour last year after The Mail on Sunday uncovered a series of offensive WhatsApp messages he had sent, including one in which he said he hoped for the death of an elderly constituent who complained about bin collections.
He is reported to have cut a deal to retire on health grounds in return for assurances about his MP’s pension. Commons sources suggested the deal would see Mr Gwynne – who is only 51 – paid up until pension age, at which point he would receive a full Parliamentary pension. That package could be worth around £1million, according to one insider.
Mr Kinnock this morning said: ‘I know the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet hugely valued the role he (Burnham) played in the aftermath of those awful events at the synagogue in Manchester.
‘So, it’s absolutely clear that Andy’s doing a great job in the role that he currently has.
‘In terms of the selection process for this by-election, it will run according to Labour Party rules and procedures.
‘The NEC will set out those rules and procedures in due course.’
Nigel Farage yesterday said Reform would throw everything at a contest, in a region where it is growing in strength.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘This by-election is by no means a certainty for Labour, the Left-wing Greens will split their vote and we will be the challenger. We will give it our all.’
Asked about the possibility of a leadership challenge, the Prime Minister last night told Channel 4 News: ‘My message is to my entire party, and that is that every minute we waste talking about anything other than the cost of living and stability in Europe and across the globe is a wasted minute.’
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice said Mr Burnham’s local popularity posed a dilemma for Sir Keir, adding: ‘If Andy Burnham is not the candidate, particularly if he is stopped by Labour, and Labour then lose, Keir Starmer is going to get the blame.
‘If Burnham fights the by-election he will be putting his alleged popularity and ability to turn around Labour’s fortunes to the test. If he loses, that’s the end, but if he wins that could raise questions for the PM.’
There were rumours that Mancunian Green Party leader Zack Polanski could throw his hat in the ring in a bid to win a seat at Westminster. Tory sources also confirmed they would stand a candidate.
