Labour MP Clive Lewis has offered to give up his seat to allow Andy Burnham to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.There has been ongoing speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham wants to take on Sir Keir for the top job, but he would need to be an MP to do so.Lewis told the BBC’s Politics Live that he was willing to step down from his Norwich South seat to allow Burnham to return to the Commons and put “country before party, party before personal ambition”.Burnham, when asked by BBC Breakfast on Thursday about Lewis offering to give up his seat, said: “I appreciate the support but I’m here this morning to do my job.”Pressed on whether he would rule out challenging Starmer, Burnham said: “I’m not going to rule out what might or might not happen in the future.””I am focused on my job here in Greater Manchester,” he said as he promoted a £1bn growth fund for the area.Number 10 declined to comment.Lewis, who has been an MP for 10 years, said he had spoken to Burnham, and when asked if he would give up his seat for him, he said it was “a question I’ve asked myself”.He added: “Do you know what? If I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I.”Last week, he said Sir Keir’s position as prime minister was “untenable” and told Channel 4 News that Burnham should be given the chance to “step up”.Later, the Sun’s political editor Kate Ferguson said that Lewis had told her he …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnLabour MP Clive Lewis has offered to give up his seat to allow Andy Burnham to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.There has been ongoing speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham wants to take on Sir Keir for the top job, but he would need to be an MP to do so.Lewis told the BBC’s Politics Live that he was willing to step down from his Norwich South seat to allow Burnham to return to the Commons and put “country before party, party before personal ambition”.Burnham, when asked by BBC Breakfast on Thursday about Lewis offering to give up his seat, said: “I appreciate the support but I’m here this morning to do my job.”Pressed on whether he would rule out challenging Starmer, Burnham said: “I’m not going to rule out what might or might not happen in the future.””I am focused on my job here in Greater Manchester,” he said as he promoted a £1bn growth fund for the area.Number 10 declined to comment.Lewis, who has been an MP for 10 years, said he had spoken to Burnham, and when asked if he would give up his seat for him, he said it was “a question I’ve asked myself”.He added: “Do you know what? If I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I.”Last week, he said Sir Keir’s position as prime minister was “untenable” and told Channel 4 News that Burnham should be given the chance to “step up”.Later, the Sun’s political editor Kate Ferguson said that Lewis had told her he …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
