Leadership rules should ‘not be tweaked’ to let Burnham run for PM, Labour NEC member says

The rules governing Labour party leadership contests should “not be tweaked” to allow Andy Burnham to run, a member of the party’s National Executive Committee has said. With the health secretary preparing to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer on Thursday , if he can secure the support of enough MPs to trigger a contest, allies of Burnham have warned against a “coronation” for Wes Streeting as the next prime minister. Burnham’s backers are understood to be lobbying Labour’s NEC to hold an extended leadership election to give him time to return to parliament, calling for a nomination period long enough for him to win a byelection. Such a move could stretch the contest to about three months, drawing out the chaos facing the party. But calls for the ruling body to allow the Greater Manchester mayor to stand for the leadership suffered a blow on Thursday as Luke Akehurst, the MP for North Durham and a staunch supporter of Starmer, said he didn’t think it was “physically possible for Andy Burnham to participate” if the starting pistol on a leadership contest was fired imminently. Speaking to Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Akehurst said it was necessary for prime ministers to be MPs or a member of the House of Lords, which last happened in 1963. “If a contest started right now, I just don’t see how it’s physically possible for Andy Burnham to participate,” he said. “[If we change the rules] we could have a cast of thousands. …