Labour bigwig Shabana Mahmood delivers replace on Andy Burnham by-election bid

Cabinet Minister Shabana Mahmood has dismissed speculation that an all ethnic minority shortlist could be imposed to block Andy Burnham from seeking a Commons comeback.

The Home Secretary, who is chair of Labour’s ruling body, said top brass would meet today to consider Mr Burnham’s request to run in the Gorton & Denton by-election. His application must be rubber-stamped by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) as he is currently Mayor of Greater Manchester.

His decision sparked a wave of Labour infighting, amid fears Mr Burnham could mount a challenge to Keir Starmer. The Greater Manchester Mayor has made no secret of his leadership ambitions, and enraged Mr Starmer’s allies by derailing Labour conference last year with a thinly-veiled pitch for the top job.

Speculation is running rife in Westminster that he could be blocked from standing. Today, Ms Mahmood rubbished the idea that he could be blocked by a decision to impose an all-BAME shortlist for candidates – which she said was against the law. But she acknowledged Labour bosses have used all-female shortlists in the past.

In a message to warring MPs, Ms Mahmood urged colleagues to “pull together” and said the public won’t forgive Labour for indulging in Tory-style political psychodrama.

She told Sky News: “I think Andy’s a fantastic mayor for Greater Manchester, and I really appreciated the letter that he wrote to myself and the rest of the national executive yesterday, I thought he made his case in a very fair minded and decent way.

“That is now a decision for the National Executive Committee. The officers will meet later on today. I am the chair of that committee, and I think it’s my job to be an impartial chair. I won’t want to say anything that gets ahead of that discussion later on today.

Asked whether she would like to see him back in Parliament, the Home Secretary told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I genuinely think Andy is a fantastic politician. I’ve worked closely with him before. We’ve discussed police reform together, we’ve discussed funding for Greater Manchester Police. I worked very closely with him in the response to the terrorist attack in Manchester at the Heaton Park synagogue.

“I think he’s an exceptional politician, and of course I always think we should have all of our best players making their contribution to the Labour Government.”

The Home Secretary warned her party that the public won’t forgive it descending into civil war. And she dismissed fears that Mr Burnham returning to Westminster would destabilise the Prime Minister.

She said: “I think that we should take Andy at his word. He has said himself that the best person to be Prime Minister is Keir Starmer. He wrote a letter yesterday in which he said he’s coming in if he’s allowed, and if he were to win a by-election, his motivation is to make a contribution in Parliament.

“I think he made a case about wanting to take the lessons of Manchester and apply them in a much more national context and make the case as part of the Labour Government. That’s his position.”

She added: “I think everybody could do with less psychodrama. And my clear message to all of my colleagues, whoever they are, in Cabinet, elsewhere in the country, is we get to decide if we’re going to indulge in a psychodrama. I don’t want to.”

Arguing that people were “fed up” with psychodrama under the Conservatives, she said: “I don’t think the country will forgive us if we end up doing exactly the same as the Conservative Party. So my clear message to all colleagues everywhere is just calm down.”