Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favorite stories in this weekly newspaper.
Andy Burnham has applied to stand as Labour’s candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election, which could pave the way for him to challenge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as Labor leader.
In a statement on social media on Saturday, the Mayor of Greater Manchester confirmed he had written to the party’s ruling national executive committee asking for permission to apply to be Labour’s candidate for the seat.
It will be up to the NEC to decide whether to allow Burnham, long seen as a potential challenger to the embattled prime minister, to run.
Burnham cannot face a leadership challenge without returning to Westminster as an MP and is believed to have been seeking the seat for some months.
But Starmer’s allies in the NEC are likely to block him from standing in the by-election, which comes after MP Andrew Gwynne stood down from his Greater Manchester seat.
The challenge of Burnham, who has become more critical of the government as the prime minister’s popularity has declined in the polls, risks further dividing Labor, which is already fighting to block Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK.
This is a developing story
