𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Mr Burnham faces several hurdles if he is to use this moment to return to Westminster.

His candidacy will have to be approved by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), which has been seen as under the control of Sir Keir Starmer’s supporters.

The Prime Minister himself would not be drawn on Thursday on whether Mr Burnham should stand, saying the NEC would set out the process for choosing a candidate and adding that he was “doing an excellent job as mayor of Manchester”.

But reports suggest Sir Keir’s allies are already mobilising to block Mr Burnham’s candidacy, arguing it would destabilise the Government.

On Thursday, a source close to the NEC said it was “hard to tell” whether the mayor would be approved as a candidate for the contest, with support among the party’s ruling body “not clear”.

But a backbench MP told PA Labour would be “foolish” to block him from standing, adding the party would be “completely finished” if it did so.

And Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy would be “a democratic outrage”, adding the union would “fiercely resist any attempts to stitch up the selection”.