“He realises the current chaos is unsustainable. He simply wants to be able to do it in a dignified way and in a manner of his own choosing,” one minster told the paper. “He will set out a timetable.”
The Prime Minister has insisted that he will not walk away and will fight any challenge.
In an interview with Sky News, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Sir Keir “has got to take his own decision” about the leadership.
Lisa Nandy is Culture Secretary in the UK Government (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Asked whether she believed he would be gone “by the summer school holidays,” Ms Nandy said: “No I don’t.”
She added: “I have spoken to the Prime Minister several times over the last week and he was very clear with the Cabinet on Tuesday that if people want to challenge him there is a process for doing that, there is a way to trigger a leadership contest, to be leader of the Labour Party and to succeed him as Prime Minister.”
No-one has yet triggered a leadership contest “despite the absolute feverish speculation”, the minister insisted.
The Wigan MP said: “Every hour on the hour for the last week I’ve read that Wes Streeting was about to launch a challenge; that Andy Burnham was about to contest every seat in Greater Manchester, including my own; that Angela Rayner was written off, that Angela Rayner was now challenging; and most of it has turned out to be just froth and nonsense.”
Reports in the Times and elsewhere suggest that cabinet ministers now privately expect a “coronation” for Andy Burnham as Labour leader should the Greater Manchester mayor win next month’s Makerfield by-election, pencilled in for June 18.
“The question in Labour politics is whether we can defeat the populist right threat,” said one senior Labour source.
“If Andy shows that definitively [by beating Reform], in a seat that voted heavily to leave [the EU], then he becomes the strong favourite to be the prime minister. I wonder if you get a leadership contest at all. I’m not sure there would be much appetite for it.”
One source close to Mr Burnham told the Mail on Sunday the preferred position in the mayor’s camp was actually for Sir Keir to hold off making any announcement before the poll.
“It is a much cleaner contest if Keir Starmer is on the ballot,” the source said. “Andy needs to be able to say, ‘If you vote for me I will go down to Westminster and drag him out of Downing Street for you.'”
But one of the Prime Minister’s cabinet supporters told the paper he could go sooner: “He’s not going to take the risk of waiting for the result of the by-election. That would be too much of a personal humiliation. If he waits and then Burnham wins, it looks as if he’s driven him out of office.”
(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
Former health secretary Wes Streeting has made clear he would throw his hat into the ring in any leadership contest.
During a speech on Saturday, he also called for Britain to eventually re-join the European Union.
Brexit had been a “catastrophic mistake”, Mr Streeting said, calling for a “new special relationship with the EU” and declaring that “Britain’s future lies with Europe, and one day back in the European Union.”
He said Labour should seek a fresh mandate for re-joining in its manifesto at the next general election.
Ms Nandy, who was out campaigning with Mr Burnham over the weekend, warned against “reopening the Brexit wars”.
She told Sky News it was “a bit odd” to advocate re-joining as an answer to Labour’s problems.
She said: “If rejoining the EU is the answer, then essentially what we’re saying to people is ‘life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there.’ Wes will hear loud and clear from people in places like Wigan, Ashton, Winstanley, across Makerfield, that that is absolutely not the case.”
Ms Nandy also expressed frustration that the debate over who should lead Labour was being driven entirely by men, saying a woman leader of the party was “long overdue”.
“I’m not here to be a spokesperson for whichever man offers an opinion on politics in the Labour Party,” she told Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips, adding: “I’m sorry if I’m coming across as a bit irritated.”
Asked whether Labour’s failure to ever elect a woman leader was a problem for the party, she said: “I did try to fix that in 2019 if you cast your mind back that far, but I agree with you — I think a woman leader is long overdue.”
Ms Nandy later ruled out standing in any future contest herself, telling the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I said at the time ‘never again’. I can’t say it’s an enormously enjoyable experience.”
(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
Meanwhile, Josh Simons — the Makerfield MP who stood aside on Thursday to give Mr Burnham a route back to Parliament — denied reports that he had been plotting the manoeuvre for a year.
The Sun on Sunday reported Mr Simons had met the mayor last summer to discuss the idea, but the MP insisted he made the decision “two days ago” after speaking with his wife.
“This has been a really tough decision for me and my family,” he said. “I have very young kids, I’ve got a three-week-old baby. This was not an easy thing to do.”
