Andy Burnham’s allies want him in Downing Street by September – and will be demanding Sir Keir Starmer name his exit date within days.
They are warning that if the Prime Minister has not announced his departure before the Greater Manchester mayoralty by-election, he could cost the party its northern power base.
It comes as Burnham stormed the Makerfield by-election overnight, taking 24,927 votes to brush aside Reform’s Robert Kenyon on 15,696 – a result his supporters are already calling the first step of his march to No 10.
His return to the Commons hands him the platform to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership and his allies claim he already has the required support to trigger a formal contest if Starmer doesn’t go quietly.
It is expected that the pressure will be ratcheted up on Starmer to quit over the weekend. Burnham’s allies want the handover wrapped up by September, The i Paper has been told.
Winning Makerfield forces Burnham to give up the mayoralty, triggering a by-election across an electorate of more than two million people.
Legally, once a mayoral vacancy occurs, the election must be held within 35 working days. It has been provisionally scheduled for 30 July.
A source familiar with Burnham’s thinking said they would ideally want an orderly transition and for him to enter Downing Street in September.
However, they said that Starmer must publicly agree to go before that to avoid “defeat” in the Greater Manchester by-election. “Starmer is just as unpopular in the rest of Greater Manchester as he is in Makerfield,” the source added.
Staunch Starmer loyalist Steve Reed, the Housing Secretary, insisted on Friday morning that the Prime Minister would “not walk away” and would fight any leadership challenge.
Burnham would also like the freedom to join the mayoral campaign. Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester City Council, is widely expected to named as Labour’s candidate in the coming days.
The new Makerfield MP and the Prime Minister were due to speak by phone on Friday morning. His allies believe he will use the call to tell Starmer to go.
But Starmer has spent recent days digging in, insisting he will fight on – although some believe he is in “denial”.
He is reported to have built a war chest of around £100,000 to see off a challenge, and a ‘Stop Burnham’ operation is said to be already running.
One suggestion is that Starmer could lend supporters to former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, another potential leadership challenger, to widen the field, in a bid to squeak through the middle of a split contest.
He is understood to have met his former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney last weekend at Chequers, his Buckinghamshire Grace and favour home, to wargame the mechanics of a leadership fight.
This is despite some, including a group of women in his inner circle, trying to convince him to set out a timetable for his departure and take a dignified exit.
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