LONDON: British Labour Party politician Andy Burnham was on Sunday blocked from trying to return to parliament, in what was seen as a political move by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his allies to keep out a potential leadership rival.
Burnham, one of the party’s most high-profile politicians and an elected mayor in the northern English city of Manchester, said on Saturday he wanted to become Labour’s candidate to replace a lawmaker who resigned on Thursday.
Labour is trailing in opinion polls to Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist Reform UK ahead of bellwether local elections in May and has so far struggled to deliver on promises of a stronger economy, better public services and tighter borders.In a decision likely to bring simmering tension within Labour to a fresh boil, Burnham was refused permission to stand by the party’s National Executive Committee on Sunday, losing a vote of senior officers, including Starmer himself, by 8 to 1.
Blocking Burnham’s candidacy denies him the chance of winning a platform from which he could have formally challenged Starmer, because only members of parliament can trigger a leadership contest. “Andy Burnham is doing a great job as Mayor of Greater Manchester,” the Labour Party said in a statement.
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