Well, well, well. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is back in the spotlight. Earlier this week, Norwich South MP Clive Lewis offered up his seat to allow Burnham to make a leadership challenge. Left-winger Lewis announced on the Beeb’s Politics Live that he would be happy to let Burnham take his seat to allow the Manchester mayor to return to the Commons and put ‘country before party, party before personal ambition’. How interesting…
But when quizzed on whether he would take Lewis up on the offer, Burnham dodged the question. Speaking to the BBC this morning, the Manchester man remarked:
I appreciate the support. But I couldn’t have brought forward a plan of the kind I’ve brought forward today without being fully focused on my role as Mayor of Greater Manchester. I’m providing leadership on growth which is what I think the country needs.
That’s not quite a ‘no’, however. When pushed further about whether he would rule out challenging Sir Keir Starmer for the top job in the future, Burnham also told the Beeb: ‘I’m not going to rule out what might or might not happen in the future.’ Talk about cryptic, eh?
And some of Lewis’s colleagues have been left rather bemused by his offer, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting remarking: ‘I think it’s a bit of a peculiar thing for Clive to have said to his own constituents, “Oh, well, I’m not interested in being your MP, I’m happy to do a deal with someone.”’ The Ilford North MP – who won his seat with a majority of just over 500 – added: ‘I would just say from personal experience, don’t take your voters for granted.’ Indeed.
And even if Lewis did follow through on his suggestion, the Manchester mayor would first have to win a selection contest before emerging victorious from a by-election. Burnham has of course bungled his bid for the top job in the past. He helped MPs to unite around Starmer after he gave an interview on the eve of Labour’s party conference that was widely interpreted as a soft leadership pitch. It backfired then – but if both the Budget and the May elections go poorly for the reds, his detractors may be forced to reconsider…
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