𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour MP Clive Lewis has thrown yet more petrol on the fire of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership crisis by offering to quit the Commons to facilitate a comeback for Andy Burnham. Despite representing a Norwich constituency, 240 miles away from the Manchester home of the “King of the North”, Mr Lewis has said he would give up his career in order to do what’s right for the country.

In an astonishing intervention, Mr Lewis was asked by the BBC whether he would give up his seat for Mr Burnham. He replied: “We’re in a quandary, it feels like we are in checkmate, it’s hard to see a way out of it. It’s a question I’ve asked myself, and I’d have to obviously consult with my wife as well and family, but do you know what, if I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I?”

Asked for clarity by the BBC Politics Live host Vicki Young whether he would really be willing to abandon his seat for the Manchester Mayor, he replied: “I would, yes.”

Last Friday, Mr Lewis became the first Labour MP to publicly call on Sir Keir to quit as Prime Minister, though many of his colleagues have been anonymously briefing the media that they feel the same way.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Lewis said: “We need to do what the Prime Minister once said, which is put country before party.

“And frankly, party before personal ambition. I just don’t see how this can stagger on without any kind of resolution on the horizon.

“And I think the Labour Party, the Labour grandees, the men in grey suits now really, seriously think, how can we get Andy Burnham back into this Parliamentary Labour Party and let him step up and become the next prime minister? That’s my personal view. I know it won’t be shared by everyone, but I don’t see many other options.”

His call came after a shambolic week for the Government, in which No 10 launched a botched briefing operation against Health Secretary Wes Streeting, whom Sir Keir’s advisers claimed is already planning a leadership coup.

Mr Burnham has long been spoken about as a potential Labour leader, and someone who enjoys significantly higher popularity ratings than the Prime Minister.

Sir Keir also suffered another blow to his authority this morning when John McTernan, a former senior adviser in No 10 who served as Sir Tony Blair’s political secretary, also called on him to “go”.

In a New Statesman article, Mr McTernan warned that after last week’s chaos, including the U-turn by Rachel Reeves over plans to raise income tax in the Budget, “there is now no plausible alternative to a Labour leadership election”.

He added: “There’s no clear proposition about what Labour is changing the country from, nor what it is changing the country to. In the absence of a compelling story, voters have focused on the actions of the Government.

“In the jargon, the Labour Government lacks a ‘political economy’, a throughline connecting its values, its actions and its aspirations.”