Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who has faced a media storm since being blocked from standing, said he did not blame the PM for the fallout of the decision
Andy Burnham has insisted he did not want to “undermine” Keir Starmer’s authority by trying to stand in a crunch by-election.
The Greater Manchester Mayor, who has faced a media storm since being blocked from standing, said he did not blame the PM for the fallout of the decision.
But he turned on Labour sources and officials, who suggested Mr Burnham lied about the lead up to his blocking, accusing them of trying to “denigrate the character” of elected politicians.
The former MP vowed to support Labour in fighting Reform in the Gorton and Denton by-election in Greater Manchester but warned he had to call the briefing out.
In a scathing rant, Mr Burnham called out the Westminster political culture of briefing against politicians, telling BBC Radio Manchester’s phone-in that “anybody paid by the public purse does not get license to lie”. Mr Burnham was on Sunday blocked from standing in the by-election after Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) voted to block him by 8 to 1 in a meeting.
READ MORE: Andy Burnham hits back at ‘simply untrue’ claims over blocking of Westminster comeback
The fuming mayor responded: “The fact that the media was informed of the NEC decision before I was tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days. You would think that over 30 years of service would count for something but sadly not.” A Labour source hit back: “This is categorically not true.”
Elsewhere, on Tuesday, anonymous sources close to the Prime Minister told ITV that Mr Burnham was informed before he sought permission to stand that he would be rejected. Mr Burnham branded the claims “simply untrue” on his X account.
Speaking during a phone-in on BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Burnham slapped down suggestions he had lied in a stern warning to those briefing the media. He said: “I’m not blaming any body at the top of the government and certainly not the Prime Minister. And we had a really good conversation about this and I respect everything that he told me…
“I saw it around Tony Blair, I saw it around Gordon Brown, I saw it around the Conservative prime ministers from the 2010s onwards – where some people just think they can say what they like to the media.
“And why do they do it? You’re asking me; They do it to denigrate the character, impugn the integrity of elected politicians. They did it to Wes Streeting not so long ago, and it’s almost like the stock in trade of Westminster.
“But the thing I would want to get over today, and I give great credit to the Prime Minister for backing the Hillsborough Law that I brought to Parliament, and obviously that brings in a duty of candour on public servants.
“Some of these people are paid by the public purse, but in my view, anybody paid by the public purse does not get license to lie, and in the aftermath of all of this, I’m not going to be bitter, and I’m going to be out there campaigning in the by-election, but I am going to call that one thing out.”
Elsewhere, Mr Burnham said he’d have preferred to have spoken to Mr Starmer before a decision was made to block him. But he said he has since had a “fair exchange” with the PM on Monday.
“I want this to be known as well: I spoke to senior people in the party, including the Home Secretary. We had a really great conversation,” he said. “And I did ask to speak to the Prime Minister, because I wanted to assure him of something I put in the letter that supported my application, and it was that I wasn’t coming in to undermine him or the Government.
“I was coming in to see if I could contribute, because some of the things I know are holding Greater Manchester back are problems at that level.”
Asked for his thoughts on a conversation he and the PM had on Monday, Mr Burnham said: “It was a fair exchange, but we both said how we felt, and I was glad to have that conversation and a chance to say how I felt. I would have preferred, obviously, to speak in advance to the decision to assure him of what I was trying to do. As I say, I think it could have created a more positive path for everybody, including the Prime Minister, including the Government.”