He said he wouldn't 'turn away from' contesting the leadership 'if a path opens up in time'.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has refused to rule out running for the Labour leadership in the future. He said he wouldn’t ‘turn away from’ contesting the leadership ‘if a path opens up in time’.
Burnham made these comments in an interview at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. According to reports, the mayor said that he was “hopeful that we will have a Labour Government led by Keir Starmer”, and that he was “hoping it will bring hope and radical change to the way the country’s run”.
Burnham then went on to respond to a question as to whether he would run for the Labour leadership again. In response he said: “If a path opens up in time, then of course I’m not going to turn away from that.
“So I think there potentially is one last go at Westminster in me, somewhere.”
He concluded: “If – and it’s not any time soon, and it’s certainly not in any way a statement of the current situation – if people felt that was right, and it was the sort of thing that was natural, then of course I wouldn’t turn away from it.”
Burnham has stood twice for the leadership before. In the 2010 contest, he came fourth, ultimately losing to Ed Miliband. In 2015, he was the runner up to Jeremy Corbyn.
Any Burnham leadership bid would be some way off in the future. He has already confirmed that he intends to stand for a third term as Mayor of Greater Manchester when that post is up for election next year. Labour leadership candidates have to be MPs and the earliest point Burnham could re-enter parliament would be at the next but one general election which could be as late as 2029.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: World Economic Forum / Faruc Pinjo
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