Andy Burnham claimed that Labour MPs have privately urged him to challenge Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party.
The 55-year-old mayor of Greater Manchester, who accused Downing Street of creating a “climate of fear,” also seemingly refused to rule out potentially running for the top job in the future.
Speaking to The Telegraph in his latest sit-down interview, the Merseyside native admitted that he’d been encouraged to challenge the current Labour leader by people within the party.
"People have contacted me throughout the summer – yeah,” he said, adding: “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."
Elsewhere in the interview, he refused to rule out a potential return to parliament and hinted that he still held ambitions for stepping into the top job.
“I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn’t it?” he admitted.
But who is Andy Burnham?
What we know about Andy Burnham
Born in Aintree, which is now part of Merseyside, to an engineer and a receptionist, Burnham had a pretty standard upbringing among a tight-knit family.
The family eventually moved to a village near Warrington, and he admitted in previous interviews that he started spending a lot of time in Manchester, where he was "massively into the Manchester music of the mid and late 80s".
He joined the Labour Party at the age of 15 and went on to study English at Cambridge University before attempting to enter journalism. He eventually landed his first political break by working as a researcher for Tessa Jowell.
In 2001, he became an MP for the first time, winning the seat of Leigh in Greater Manchester. His plan at the time was "to restore people's faith in politics and show that Parliament does listen and deliver good news as well as bad."
He later went on to assume several prominent political positions, including junior Home Office minister under Tony Blair, and culture secretary for Gordon Brown and Shadow Education Secretary under Ed Miliband.
He’s attempted to take the Labour leadership on two occasions: coming fourth in 2010 in a race won by Miliband, and second in 2015 in a race won by Corbyn.
In 2017, he resigned and launched a bid for mayor of Greater Manchester, a position he has held to this day. In the role, he has made significant contributions to Manchester, including introducing the public transport Bee Network and pledging 15 per cent of his salary to combat rough sleeping.
In his personal life, Burnham is also a husband and a father of three.
Burnham, who is not currently an MP, has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He’s also had two failed leadership attempts in the past, losing out to both Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.
Since then, he’s continued to carve a name for himself within the political landscape, including notably being dubbed “King of the North” for criticising the Tory government’s Covid-19 response while advocator for communities in the north of England.
With Reform giving Labour a serious run for its money and many working-class voters appealing to Farage’s brash type of politics, some may wonder whether Burnham could be Labour’s solution.
Could he become Labour leader?
If Burnham did win a leadership race, it would also mean he may take the premiership.
While the mayor has made no secret of his ambitions, there is still a long way to go at this point.
Firstly, he’d need to be an MP again, and there isn’t any official indication that other MPs are stepping down to pave the way for him to do so.
Additionally, Burnham reportedly isn’t the closest of allies to Starmer and he would need to secure a lot of support among MPs to stage a challenge.
