The Labour Party is closing ranks around Andy Burnham as its next leader after Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation this week, with two senior figures telling the BBC that MPs are backing a coronation rather than a contest.
Deputy leader Lucy Powell said she was “pleased that actually what it looks like is we’re probably going to have just the one candidate in Andy Burnham”. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she added: “How refreshing that would be – that the whole Labour Party is agreed on the new leader and we don’t have to go through a contest that could be damaging at this point in time.”
“Labour figures back Andy Burnham as next leader, with no serious challenger expected.”
Housing Secretary Steve Reed agreed the party was “going to move very swiftly to uniting behind Andy Burnham” without “turning inwards”, which he described as absolutely essential.
But the path is not entirely clear. Former defence minister Al Carns said a speech on Monday, in which Burnham will set out his economic policy, will decide whether he challenges for the leadership.
The party had set out a timeline for a contest after Starmer’s resignation, but there is scant evidence of support for any contender other than Burnham. Powell, who as an opposition figure called for a general election when Liz Truss was forced out in 2022, denied hypocrisy for not wanting one now. “I think we were in very particular times after Liz Truss crashed the economy,” she said. “People want us to get on with the job and deliver the change they want to see.”
Reed said this time was “very different” because the Tories had repeatedly changed leader while in government. Reform UK’s Nigel Farage has called for an immediate general election, but the Conservatives have not. Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly told Victoria Derbyshire that an election would delay key decisions, particularly on defence spending. “I, of course, did not call for one when we changed leaders mid-term, but there is a job of work to be done and we should get on with it,” he said.
Burnham’s rise follows three mayoral victories and a return to Parliament, with an ability to outperform Labour nationally and limit Reform’s advance. At the 2024 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, he was a dominant presence, though the event saw Rachel Reeves’s policies on food, farming and environment criticised.
Former foreign secretary David Miliband has said he is optimistic about a potential Burnham government. For now, Labour appears determined to avoid a damaging contest and present a unified front behind its new leader.