Andy Burnham is no stranger to Labour leadership contests.
More than 10 years ago he ran twice, unsuccessfully, for the top job.
Now he’s backed by many Labour MPs as the party’s best chance of recovery, after months of languishing in the polls and a devastating set of election results.
The only problem? He’s not an MP – a requirement to stand as Labour leader.
In January, he was knocked back by Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) when he sought to stand in a by-election.
But he has now managed to find a Labour MP willing to stand down to give him a chance to get back to Westminster to challenge Sir Keir Starmer.
It is not a done deal. Sir Keir has said he will not seek to block Burnham from standing in Josh Simons’ Makerfield constituency.
But he will still need to be selected as a candidate by the local party and then win a by-election in a seat where Reform UK came second by 5,399 votes at the 2024 general election and swept the board at last week’s local elections.
In a statement, Burnham said: “I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times.
“We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again.”
He also made it clear that, if he is selected, he will run on his record as mayor of Greater Manchester, where he has been elected three times with successive landslides, vowing to “make politics work properly for people” across the UK.
