Andy Burnham has insisted he is “completely committed” to Greater Manchester after his repeated hints he could be considering a future Labour leadership bid drew a mixed reaction within the party.
But the senior politician again declined to rule out a tilt for the Prime Minister’s job if he won enough backing as he faced questions about his recent interventions in national politics on Thursday.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed earlier played down suggestions Mr Burnham could be seeking to unseat the Prime Minister after the Greater Manchester Mayor said MPs were privately urging him to mount a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Burnham said: “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.”
He said delays to the revival of Northern Powerhouse Rail, for example, were not “the plan we need,” adding: “We need to prioritise investment here in a place that’s growing stronger than anywhere else in the UK.”
Asked what he would say to Greater Manchester 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.”
He said he would not “toe the line” or “be quiet” about issues important to Greater Manchester and would “speak directly”.
On whether he would run for the top job if he received enough backing from Labour MPs, he said he was “not in the business of answering hypotheticals”.
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.
But Cabinet minister Mr Reed on Thursday downplayed the criticism of the Prime Minister, saying people had “taken potshots at Keir Starmer before”.
Sir Keir has had a bruising few weeks in which two high-profile Government departures and sustained lag behind Reform UK in the polls sparked questions about his political future.
Mr Reed insisted Labour members should focus on “how we drive change” during the party’s annual conference next week instead of turning inwards to discuss manoeuvres to replace Sir Keir.
“Change is what people voted for, change is what we’re going to deliver, and I’m not going to be diverted by tittle-tattle in the papers,” the Streatham and Croydon North MP told Times Radio.
“Andy is playing a great role already.
“He’s the mayor of Greater Manchester and he’s doing an incredible job there, if you look at what they’re doing on homelessness or what they’re doing working with local health services.
“He will keep doing that work, because that is the commitment he gave until the end of his term.”
Mr Reed also told the BBC: “I would urge everyone in the Labour Party to spend conference focusing on how we drive change.
“Our job now is to talk to the country, not to ourselves, about how we’re going to change the things that they care about.”
Other Labour figures also urged Mr Burnham to tone down his leadership ambitions after he gave interviews to The New Statesman and The Telegraph ahead of the party’s gathering in Liverpool.
Labour peer Baroness Thangam Debbonaire told Sky News: “I don’t think it’s helpful for anybody to start sticking their oar in about who should or should not replace Keir Starmer. Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister.”
Meanwhile, Sacha Lord, a former Labour donor and Mr Burnham’s former night-time economy tsar for Greater Manchester, said the Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves had lost his support and new leadership was needed.
“I think somebody really needs to take leadership. Somebody needs to start being what the Labour Party is all about,” he told Times Radio.
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 conference.
But the senior Labour politician told the New Statesman that the conference starting on Sunday 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.”
Mr Burnham detailed his politics of “aspirational socialism”, calling for more public control of housing, energy, water and rail, and to “get back to speaking to working-class ambition”.
He signalled a willingness to work with the Liberal Democrats and Jeremy Corbyn and told The Telegraph he believed Britain should introduce proportional representation to encourage co-operation within the “progressive majority”.
He argued for higher council tax on some homes in southern England and a 50p top rate of income tax, saying there was a “huge underpayment of tax that should now be corrected” in London and the South East because the rates were based on property valuations from 1991.
EXCLUSIVE: ANDY BURNHAM’S PLAN FOR BRITAIN by @TomMcTague
— The New Statesman (@NewStatesman) September 24, 2025
Andy Burnham tells me that changing Westminster needs to be the focus of this year’s Labour Party conference. “The issue for the conference is: where is our plan to turn the country around?” Still, it is impossible to… pic.twitter.com/RIwDLytoFN
Asked if MPs had urged him to run for the top job, he said: “People have contacted me throughout the summer, yeah.
“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”
Suggesting he still harbours ambitions for No 10, he said: “I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn’t it?”
