"If Andy Burnham has a road back to parliament to challenge Keir Starmer as Labour leader, it is a road with six-foot-deep potholes. With the right vehicle, it may be possible but there are points at which any brave traveller might think about turning back. For Burnham to run in Andrew Gwynne's seat of Gorton and Denton, he would first have to stand down as mayor of Greater Manchester."
"Starmer and Burnham have personal animosity, but that is nothing compared with the cold fury that senior figures in No 10 feel towards Burnham for what they see as his openly planning a coup against the prime minister. The NEC's current chair is the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood. Other MPs on the body include Ellie Reeves the solicitor general and sister of the chancellor and Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip, as well as the centrists Luke Akehurst and Gurinder Singh Josan."
Andy Burnham would need to resign as mayor of Greater Manchester to contest Andrew Gwynne's Gorton and Denton seat, risking costly mayoral by-election expenses for the authority and the party. He would then require selection approval from a three-person panel controlled by the party general secretary and a national executive committee that is dominated by moderates who aided Keir Starmer's pre-election selection control. Personal animosity and intense hostility from senior figures in No 10 further weaken his prospects. A new clause in the party rulebook adds selection hurdles. Trade unions and deputy leader Lucy Powell offer some sympathy, but supportive voices remain limited.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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