𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Keir Starmer will jet to China on Tuesday while a Labour civil war rages at home in Britain.

The Prime Minister on Monday defended his decision to block Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from returning to Westminster as an MP because it would “divert our resources” from Labour’s campaigns in the May elections.

But critics have accused Sir Keir, who will flee to Beijing later, and his allies of preventing Mr Burnham’s candidacy for fear of a leadership challenge.

Sir Keir insisted the “battle of our times” was between Labour and Reform UK rather than within his own party, despite internal anger over the move to block Mr Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton seat.

A 10-strong group from Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), including the Prime Minister, voted to deny Mr Burnham permission to run in the Greater Manchester by-election on February 26 at a meeting on Sunday.

Speaking to broadcasters at a health centre in Wimbledon, Sir Keir said: “We have really important elections already across England for local councils, very important elections in Wales for the Government there, and very important elections in Scotland for the Scottish Government that will affect millions of people.

“And we’re out campaigning on the cost of living, and they’re very important elections.

“We need all of our focus on those elections.

“Andy Burnham’s doing a great job as the Mayor of Manchester, but having an election for the Mayor of Manchester when it’s not necessary would divert our resources away from the elections that we must have, that we must fight and win, and resources, whether that’s money or people, need to be focused on the elections that we must have, not elections that we don’t have to have.

“And that was the basis of the NEC decision.”

Speculation has persisted about the prospect of Sir Keir facing a leadership challenge if the party performs badly in May’s local and devolved parliamentary elections.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting was forced to deny suggestions in November that he was hoping to unseat the Prime Minister after finding himself the target of a Labour briefing war over his perceived ambitions.

A well-placed Westminster source told the Express that Mr Streeting could move against the Labour leader as soon as this week while he is abroad.

They said: “I’m hearing that Wes is plotting to move as soon as this week. Starmer’s position is untenable now. It’s going to happen sooner rather than later.”

Sir Keir will head to Beijing with to boost trade, before visiting Japan at the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party’s chances in the by-election next month have been boosted after Mr Burnham was blocked.

The vote is taking place to find a replacement for Labour MP Andrew Gwynne, who quit last week after suffering “significant ill health”

He told reporters: “Burnham would have galvanised the anti-Starmer vote.

“He’d have pushed the turnout up, and I think it would have been very difficult for us to beat him.

“I’m being absolutely frank about that… we might have come a good second.

“Now he’s not there. I think that the anti-Starmer vote will coalesce around us, so I think our chances have improved massively overnight.

“Is it a pushover? Of course it’s not; it’s rather like Runcorn.

“It’s one of those traditional safe Labour seats with a big majority, and it’ll probably be very close, but are we now in with a serious shout? Absolutely.”

Mr Burnham insisted on Monday that he was “getting on with my job now” following the Labour saga.

He made the brief comment after he gave a speech at an event at Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery.

As he entered a lift, he said: “I have said everything that I needed to say, and I’m getting on with my job now.”

Minutes earlier, he addressed an audience at the launch of a new report, Class Ceiling, which highlights how the region’s working class are struggling to break into the arts world.

At the start of his speech, he quipped: “You’ve all probably been trying to escape sight of me all weekend, but here I am, Monday morning.

“Fantastic to be here. To be honest, I have read every single word of the report because I have not had anything else to do this weekend.”