Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential candidates for a parliamentary seat, scuppering any potential leadership challenge, a senior minister has claimed.
The Greater Manchester mayor has been accused privately by allies of “overplaying his hand” in positioning himself as a potential replacement for Sir Keir as leader of the Labour Party.
Despite a YouGov poll of Labour voters suggesting he would be a more popular prime minister than Sir Keir, by 33 points to 28, his hopes that the party conference in Liverpool would be a launchpad for any leadership bid fell flat this week.
He left before Sir Keir’s speech began, claiming he did not want to upstage the prime minister, and even withdrew from a fringe meeting where he was due to share a platform with rebel Labour MPs.
But, even if the groundswell of support had given him momentum, he would need to return to Westminster as an MP via a by-election in order to have a shot at the leadership.
However, knowing the risk and Mr Burnham’s plans, Sir Keir and Mr McSweeney – who control who gets on shortlists for by-election candidates – would act to stop him, it is being speculated.
The minister, who is an ally of Mr Burnham, told The Independent: “Keir and Morgan wouldn’t even let him get on the shortlist to be a candidate. They would block him. There’s no way he’s getting back into parliament.”
But the Manchester mayor’s manoeuvres have exposed discontent among senior figures in the government over whether Sir Keir and his inner circle, including Mr McSweeney, are the right people to beat Reform.
“The problem is that we are being run by technocrats when we need warriors,” one minister noted.
The elections in May – with the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and London councils all up for grabs – are now being regarded as “the hard deadline” for the prime minister to prove himself, and a bad set of results for Labour could see the prime minister facing serious challenges to his position.
There was also a feeling that politicians from outside the Westminster bubble, who represent regions, are “constantly being told to get back into your box”.
They added: “That breeds resentment, and Andy [Burnham] has very much tapped into that.”
The process in which candidates are selected runs through the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party.
Ministers believe that Sir Keir and his chief of staff Mr McSweeney “have a grip on the NEC” and can “effectively pick and choose candidates.”
A senior minister suggested that Mr Burnham’s name coming to the fore was “a proxy for a wider discussion”.
“There is a real debate going on about what Labour stands for and our values and I think Andy has become a proxy for a wider discussion.”
Another suggested that the Manchester mayor had “made himself look silly”.
The prime minister, though, looked more confident that he has done at any time during his first 15 months in office.
He was noticeably visible in the Labour conference, mixing with delegates and others in the bar area and restaurant in a highly unusual move.
One MP said: “You will see a lot of that this. He was also seen a lot in the tea rooms just before recess, which we hadn’t seen before. It’s because he is in trouble.”
But while he had a very good conference, one cabinet minister suggested that he still has to get through a very difficult Budget in November and potentially catastrophic elections in Wales, Scotland and English local government next May.
“Keir needs to be less worried about Andy [Burnham] and this conference and more what might happen to him in June or July next year,” the minister noted.
The Independent has contacted Labour for comment.
