A decision on whether to allow Andy Burnham to stand as a candidate for an upcoming parliamentary by-election will be made by the Labour Party’s ruling national executive committee later.
The has been told allies of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer may try to block the mayor of Greater Manchester from standing in Gorton and Denton due to concerns that he could mount a leadership challenge if he returns to Westminster.
Announcing his application to return to the Commons, Burnham, a former cabinet minister under Gordon Brown, said he wanted to to back the Labour government “not undermine it”.
Several Labour MPs have reacted angrily to the suggestion he could be blocked from standing, with the NEC expected to meet at 11:00 GMT to make its decision.
The seat in Greater Manchester is vacant after Andrew Gwynne stood down as an MP on health grounds on Friday.
As a directly elected mayor, Burnham has to get approval from Labour’s ruling national executive committee before he can enter the race to be the party’s candidate.
It is a massive decision for the prime minister and his allies.
The calculation is whether it is more damaging to block a popular mayor from running in what could be a difficult by-election in his area or to allow a leadership candidate to come to Westminster and potentially make a leadership challenge in a few months’ time.
All indications at the moment are that his supporters intend to try to block it when the NEC meets this morning.
That they are willing to do that, and to take the political damage from the inevitable fallout, shows just how seriously they are taking the threat of Burnham or others challenging the prime minister for his job.
In a letter published on social media to announce his intentions, Burnham said there was a “direct threat to everything Greater Manchester has always been about from a brand of politics which seeks to pit people against each other”.
He said he had left Westminster nearly a decade ago because he believed “it wasn’t working for people in our part of the world” and that as mayor he had “tried to pioneer a different way of doing things”.
But he said he felt the “need to go back” as he believed similar changes were needed at a national level.
There has been speculation that the prime minister could face a leadership challenge after the May elections, which will see votes take place in the Welsh Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and in some local councils in England.
Burnham has been touted as a possible leadership contender but can only mount a challenge if he is an MP.
He has insisted he would be in Parliament “to support the work of the government” and says he has assured the prime minister of this.
Labour MPs are split on the issue, some think Burnham should be allowed to stand as a strong candidate but others think having to contest his mayoralty opens the door to Reform potentially winning that.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said he should be allowed to be an MP if he wanted to be, while deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said the by-election would be “difficult” and she wanted “to make sure we are putting the best team out on the pitch week after week”.
She called for Labour members to “get behind Keir Starmer”, adding that she did not want to see the by-election develop into “in-fighting and talking about ourselves”.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Burnham would be “a massive asset” in Parliament and that he hoped Gorton and Denton party members would have “the option” of selecting him as a candidate.
But Health Secretary Wes Streeting was more cautious, saying there would be big questions to weigh up including what would happen if there was a mayoral election in Greater Manchester.
If Burnham were to be selected and won the Gorton and Denton seat, he would have to resign as Greater Manchester mayor, triggering a new election for that role.
Several Labour sources have said the NEC could block Burnham’s application on the grounds that a mayoral election would be expensive for the party.
It would also be costly for the taxpayer with the last mayoral election costing around £4.7m.
The area of Gorton and Denton has traditionally voted Labour and the party won the seat in 2024 with a majority of 13,000.
However, since then the party’s popularity has declined and Labour could face challenges from Reform UK and the Green Party who came second and third at the general election.
John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair, said he thought Burnham was putting himself forward in the interests of the party.
He told Breakfast: “Support for the party has nearly halved since the last general election. Andy is very popular in Greater Manchester and if Reform formed a government eventually it would be a challenge not just for Labour but for everything he and other mayors have achieved around England.”
Labour MP Jo White told the same programme Burnham may be the best candidate for the job but he had to consider his legacy as Greater Manchester mayor and if he became an MP he should work to ensure Labour retained the mayoralty.
“Is he willing to sacrifice giving up the Manchester mayor to Reform or another party to pursue his parliamentary ambitions?” she said.
