Andy Burnham has insisted he is committed to his job as Mayor of Manchester after hints he is launching a bid to oust Keir Starmer drew criticism from Labour MPs.
The former cabinet minister has claimed "wholesale change" is needed in Labour to see off an "existential" threat from Reform and left-wing parties and has suggested that MPs have been privately urging him to challenge the Prime Minister.
On Thursday, Mr Burnham again declined to rule out a tilt for the Labour leader job if he won enough backing as he faced questions about his recent interventions in national politics.
Cabinet minister Steve Reed said that Mr Burnham has made a "commitment" to serve his full term as mayor of Greater Manchester.
The Housing Secretary told Times Radio: "Andy is playing a great role already...He will keep doing that work, because that is the commitment he gave until the end of his term."
Mr Reed added: "He's given a commitment. I'm sure he wouldn't break it."
Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, tweeted: “The annual ‘Burnham wants to be leader’ headlines just before conference are more grating this year.
“He didn’t take on the guy who oversaw Labour’s worst defeat in a century and facilitated antisemitism but pops up now under a huge majority and with four years to go. No ta.”
In an interview with the Telegraph, which fuelled speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster, the former New Labour minister and ex-MP for Leigh had said MPs are privately urging him to mount a challenge to Sir Keir.
He accused Downing Street of creating a "climate of fear" as he set out his vision for how to "turn the country around", including a potential 50p top rate of income tax.
"I've no intention of just abandoning what we're trying to build here, but I gave an honest answer and sometimes it feels to me that the Westminster world can't deal with those answers,” Mr Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday.
Asked what he would say to his constituents convinced he was about to leave his role, he said: "I love everything about this job. I love what's happening here in Greater Manchester.
“I'm completely committed to it." But he added he would not "toe the line" or "be quiet" about issues important to northern England and would "speak directly".
Mr Burnham, who has twice failed in bids to become Labour leader, would need to win a parliamentary seat as a first step towards another potential run.
There were rumours that suspended Gorton and Denton MP, Andrew Gwynne, was set to step down, paving the way for Mr Burnham to challenge the seat in a by-election.
However, Mr Gwynne has not quit and there would be no guarantee Mr Burnham would receive the Labour nomination should he decide to try to return to Westminster.
Mr Burnham insisted he was not plotting an immediate return to the Commons or wanting to step on the Government's toes as it seeks a reset at the party’s annual conference, which starts on Sunday.
But the senior Labour politician told the New Statesman that the conference must answer the question "where is our plan to turn the country around?"
"I'm going to put the question back to people at Labour conference: are we up for that wholesale change?
He said returning to "the old way of doing things in Westminster with minimal change" was an unattractive prospect, but that he was ready to "work with anybody who wants to ... put in place a plan to turn the country around".
"I'm happy to play any role. I am ready to play any role in that. Yes. Because the threat we're facing is increasingly an existential one."
