Andy Burnham latest: Labour rebels accuse Starmer of ‘stitch-up’ after mayor’s Westminster return blocked

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Labour MP Kim Johnson has said Sir Keir Starmer “needs to consider his own position” after the decision to block Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, claiming it shows the PM is not putting the country before the party.

She told Times Radio: “I’m really disappointed with the decision taken by a handful of NEC members today to block Andy Burnham from standing in the seat in Manchester.

“It is really disappointing. Starmer has spoken about putting country first before the party. Well, this clearly isn’t the situation. It’s really disappointing that Andy got to find out after the media were invited.

“This just plays into the level of factionalism that has been inherent in this party for too long and it has to stop. And Keir Starmer now needs to consider his own position as leader of this party.”

Labour’s national execuitve committee (NEC) voted on Saturday to block Andy Burnham from standing as an MP in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.

The move was instantly criticised by a slew of Labour MPs, who said the decision was “incredibly disappointing” and “weak”.

Karl Turner, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, told Times Radio: “There’ll be a lot of bloodletting in the Parliamentary Labour Party as a result of this decision.”

But others said voters had elected Mr Burnham to serve a four-year term as mayor in 2024 and “don’t like” mid-term elections.

Housing secretary Steve Reed said: “So we’re not going to go back and ask the people of Greater Manchester, over two million of them who are entitled to vote, to elect somebody else to complete the next two (years), because we can select a different candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, and we will make the case for the Labour government”.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

A Cabinet minister has admitted that the decision of the NEC may have been leaked to the media before Andy Burnham was informed.

It comes after Burnham claimed that “the media was informed of the NEC decision before I was”, arguing that this “tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days.”

He added: “You would think that over 30 years of service would count for something but sadly not.”

On Sunday, Labour sources hit back saying that his allegations were “categorically untrue” and said they had attempted to call and email him.

But asked about it on Monday, Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander told Sky News: “My understanding, and it’s only my understanding, is that the general secretary tried to call Andy immediately after the meeting, but… it wouldn’t be the first time that what was supposed to be a confidential meeting about internal matters in the Labour party with a large number of people in the room leaked out. So if that happened, that’s wrong.

“I would have hoped that Andy would have been done the courtesy of hearing first and directly. But as I say, having been in plenty of Labour Party meetings where information is leaked out, perhaps that’s what happened.”

The climbdown came after sources close to Mr Burnham said The Guardian posted the NEC’s decision on social media at 11.56am, but he wasn’t called by the party until 12.12pm and then emailed at 12.20pm.

Allowing Andy Burnham to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election would not have been a “risk-free choice”, a Cabinet minister has argued.

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander told Times Radio that if the NEC had allowed Mr Burnham to stand, there would have been “the equivalent of 20 by-elections diverting time, energy and money to a Manchester mayoral contest” which Labour might lose.

He said: “We would certainly have fought that contest hard, but there would have been some degree of risk – Reform are outspending us about 10-to-one at the moment and in the biggest and most unnecessary electoral contest in England, you can never take anything for granted.

“That doesn’t strike me as a risk-free choice.”

The decision to block Andy Burnham from seeking a return to Westminster was more about “focus than factionalism”, with Labour seeking to avoid the distraction of a mayoral by-election in Greater Manchester, a Cabinet minister said.

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander acknowledged Sir Keir Starmer’s role in the decision to block his potential leadership rival, telling Times Radio: “This was a decision, of course, that the Prime Minister was involved in, but was actually a decision taken by a subcommittee of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).”

He said: “The judgment was more about focus than factionalism.”

Mr Alexander continued: “Whatever choice the national executive committee made yesterday, it was likely that there would be criticism and there would be commentary in the papers today. There were, if you like, ditches on both sides of the road.”

If the NEC had allowed Mr Burnham to stand, there would have been “the equivalent of 20 by-elections diverting time, energy and money to a Manchester mayoral contest” which Labour might lose.

“We would certainly have fought that contest hard, but there would have been some degree of risk – Reform are outspending us about 10-to-one at the moment and in the biggest and most unnecessary electoral contest in England, you can never take anything for granted.

“That doesn’t strike me as a risk-free choice.”

Labour MPs are said to be in open revolt against Sir Keir Starmer and his allies after what they believe to be a “stitch-up” in blocking Andy Burnham from returning to Westminster.

Backbenchers are said to have described the move as “completely outrageous” and “incredibly disappointing”, with The Telegraph reporting that Angela Rayner is among those who disagreed with the decision.

A letter is circulating among MPs that claims the decision amounted to “a remote stitch-up from a small group of people at the very top in London”.

It reportedly warns that losing the by-election would be “unimaginable… blocking [Mr Burnham] from even making his case to local members risks sending a message that the party does not respect devolution”.

They are calling on the National Executive Committee to re-evaulate their decision, with one Starmer ally stating: “No. It’s done.”

Andy Burnham has given a blunt response to Sir Keir Starmer’s biographer, who wrote on social media that the notion of him returning to Westminster would add to recent “psychodrama” and would not be in Labour’s best interests.

Tom Baldwin wrote: “Ive always liked @AndyBurnhamGM but the prospect of him returning to Westminster has already added to inward-looking psychodrama that does no one any good. And an unnecessary by-election for Mayor of Manchester might well have resulted in long term damage to his reputation too.”

In response, the Greater Manchester mayor said: “I’m not sure losing a by-election does us any good either, Tom.”

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Political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Andy Burnham has said he is “concerned” about the impact of the Labour Party’s decision to bar him from the Gorton and Denton by-election.

In a statement on social media hours after the move, Mr Burnham said: “I am disappointed by today’s NEC decision and concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us.”