A decision on whether to allow Andy Burnham to run in an upcoming parliamentary by-election will be made by the Labour Party’s ruling national executive committee later.The BBC 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 mi …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA decision on whether to allow Andy Burnham to run in an upcoming parliamentary by-election will be made by the Labour Party’s ruling national executive committee later.The BBC 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 mi …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
