Cabinet minister dismisses Burnham leadership bid with brutal slapdown

‘Our job now is to talk to the country, not to ourselves, about how we’re going to change the things that they care about.’

A Labour cabinet minister has dismissed Andy Burnham’s leadership bid with a brutal takedown, after the Manchester Mayor announced ahead of party conference that MPs had approached him to challenge Keir Starmer.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Burnham criticised Number 10 directly and claimed it had created a “climate of fear” among MPs, and accused the administration of creating “alienation and demoralisation” within the party.

Asked if MPs had urged him to run, he said: “People have contacted me throughout the summer – yeah.

“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”

He also refused to rule out challenging the Prime Minister before May’s local elections, though he would have to be an MP first.

However, one cabinet minister has slapped down Burnham’s ambitions ahead of conference.

Housing secretary Steve Reed dismissed Burnham as a “regional politician” and insisted that Burnham was “committed to seeing out his full term” as mayor, which doesn’t end until 2028.

He told BBC Breakfast: “He is entitled as a leading regional politician to make his case. I think he’s doing a fantastic job as mayor of Manchester – he committed to seeing out his full term, which ends in 2028.”

Reed added: “People have taken pot shots at Keir Starmer before. When it happened in opposition, he picked this party up off the floor and he led it to a record-breaking election victory.

“Our job now is to talk to the country, not to ourselves, about how we’re going to change the things that they care about.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward