‘Hold the line’: Burnham tells allies in parliament he still has options to return

Andy Burnham has told Labour MPs they should hold the line and that he has options to return to parliament after several seats identified by his allies failed to materialise. Two seats that backers of the Greater Manchester mayor had described as “nailed on” as recently as Monday night are now out of contention after the MPs concerned got cold feet. Burnham spoke to a number of MPs by phone on Tuesday and assured them that he still intended to seek an imminent return to parliament. The Guardian was told by two MPs on Wednesday that Jeff Smith, who represents Manchester Withington, an affluent suburb of the city, was in talks about stepping aside for Burnham, but his friends denied it. Smith was approached for comment. Afzal Khan, the MP for Manchester Rusholme, has also denied his seat is in contention. Jim McMahon, who represents Oldham West, did not respond to enquiries about his seat, but he is known to be close to the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, another possible contender for the Labour leadership. There are some in the Burnham camp who have deep reservations about the seat anyway because of the likelihood of a well-funded Reform campaign there, and especially a focus on the town’s dark legacy of grooming gangs. Burnham’s allies had previously been confident they had potential seats for him in St Helens and Warrington, but the MPs for these constituencies, Charlotte Nichols and Marie Rimmer, deny that was the case. …