Sir Keir Starmer was among the members of Labour’s National Executive Committee who voted to block potential leadership rival Andy Burnham from running for Westminster.
Sunday’s dramatic move by Starmer and his allies is the latest twist in a long-running saga involving the Manchester Mayor’s Labour leadership ambitions and his rivalry with the Prime Minister.
Sources on the National Executive Committee (NEC) said there had been a “very clear majority” against allowing Burnham to apply for selection in the Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton.
In a statement following the vote, which is believed to have lasted just 45 minutes, the 10-strong sub-group of the NEC said it had voted against Burnham to avoid “an unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester mayor”.
Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell, a long-time ally of Burnham’s, was the only member to vote in his favour. The NEC chair, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, abstained from the vote.
The committee added: “Although the party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk.
“Andy Burnham is doing a great job as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“We believe it is in the best interests of the party to avoid an unnecessary mayoral election which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources that are better spent tackling the cost-of-living crisis.”
The party is said to have estimated that the cost of contesting a mayoral by-election would have been around £5m.
Burnham revealed on Saturday that he wanted to contest the seat after the sitting MP, Andrew Gwynne, said he was standing down following medical advice.
However, because he could not hold the Greater Manchester mayoralty at the same time as being an MP, Burnham was forced to get permission from Labour’s all-powerful NEC to apply to be the candidate.
In a letter to the NEC, Burnham insisted he was motivated by a desire to “mount the strongest possible defence” of Labour’s record in the city and that if elected he would “support the work of the Government, not undermine it”.
However, with Burnham making no secret of his interest in one day being Labour leader – a position he has run for twice already – both supporters and opponents of the Manchester Mayor saw it as a move to ensure he had the Commons seat which would be necessary for a third attempt.
Ahead of the vote, while promoting her Policing White Paper on the morning broadcast rounds, the Home Secretary dodged the question of whether Burnham should be allowed to stand, telling interviewers that as the “impartial chair” of the NEC she did not feel it was appropriate to comment for fear of leaving herself “open to the accusation that I’m trying to sway the debate”.
However, she did praise Burnham as an “exceptional politician” who had been an “excellent” MP in the past. But when the crunch NEC meeting began at 11am, it quickly became apparent how isolated Burnham was on the committee.
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Starmer is understood to have led from the front during the discussions, arguing that Burnham’s candidacy should be blocked because he had promised to serve a full term as Manchester Mayor less than two years ago and that the expense of triggering a second by-election for the mayoralty could not be justified.
Blocking Burnham is likely to provoke anger from some parts of the Labour Party after several senior figures called for local members to have the final say on whether he should stand.
They included Powell and Cabinet minister Ed Miliband, who had both told a conference in London on Saturday that the decision should be left to members.
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