Burnham on Labour leadership: 'If the call came I'm not going to turn away'

Andy Burnham has hinted once again at his leadership ambitions, telling ITV News, “if the call came” to return to government, “I’m not going to just turn away from it”.

Pressed on whether he would like to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the leadership of the Labour party, the Mayor of Greater Manchester said: “I’m not an MP, I can’t stand in a leadership race.  It’s not for me, it would be for other people in Westminster, wouldn’t it, to decide.

“I want to support the government, I’m here to make a success of this Labour government, and I don’t know if people there think I have a could have a role in that in any capacity, and I mean in any capacity when I say that, then of course, if the call came, I’m not going to just turn away from it, but I want the government to succeed.”

Burnham came out swinging for Starmer in the days before Labour conference and dominated the event by repeatedly hinting at his leadership ambitions, but he hasn’t addressed the issue since then.

‘If the call came, I’m not going to turn away from it’ – Watch the full exchange

His comments come as Labour MPs are increasingly speculating about potential challenges to Starmer’s leadership as the PM languishes in the polls.

That speculation was further this week after the Times revealed a major Labour think tank that backed Starmer’s leadership was polling members for potential replacements, with Burnham on the list.

“I’m not putting my name in those surveys, Westminster does what it does, and I often get drawn in,” he told ITV News.

The mayor insisted he wants to stay in his current job: “I think people underestimate what a wrench it would be for me to leave this job – I’ve loved this job, everything about it.”

Just before Labour conference Burnham claimed MPs had been privately urging him to stand but that it was “more a decision” [for them] than it is for me.”

He then continued to gesture towards a potential leadership bid during panels and interviews throughout the conference, telling one event: “To those today making calls for simplistic statements of loyalty, well, I say if that closes down the debate we need, I think it’s at risk of underestimating the peril the party is in as we get to the polls next May.”

He denied speaking out “purely for my own ambition”, insisting “I am speaking out for the thousands of councillors here at this conference who were worried about going to those doorsteps next May”.

The mayor said there was a “climate of fear” within the Labour party, and that he’d “done nothing more than launch a debate”.

Burnham told ITV News on Tuesday he left Westminster “for a reason”, and “as Manchester has become more and more functional, the country has become more and more dysfunctional”.

Labour MP Clive Lewis said last month that he would “give up his seat” to allow Burnham to rejoin parliament and mount a leadership challenge.

After a briefing war over the reported leadership ambitions of Health Secretary Wes Streeting last month, this weekend, Streeting’s team denied reports of a deal between him and former Deputy PM Angela Rayner.

The Daily Telegraph reported that allies of Streeting were pressing Rayner to sign up to a “joint ticket” for the top job.