Labour MP sparks leadership chaos as he offers to quit for Andy Burnham | Politics | News
Labor MP Clive Lewis has further fueled Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership crisis by proposing to leave the House of Commons to facilitate the return of Andy Burnham. Despite the “King in the North” representing the constituency of Norwich, 240 miles from his home in Manchester, Mr Lewis said he would give up his career to do the right thing for his country.
In a surprising intervention, Mr Lewis was asked by the BBC whether he would give up his seat to Mr Burnham. He replied: “We’re in a dilemma, it feels like we’re at checkmate, it’s hard to find a way out of this. It’s a question I’ve been asking myself, and of course I need to consult my wife and my family, but you know, if I sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I should say yes, right?”
When BBC Politics Live presenter Vicki Young asked for clarity on whether she would actually give up her seat for Mayor of Manchester, she replied: “I would, yes.”
Last Friday Mr Lewis became the first Labor MP to call on Sir Keir to resign as Prime Minister, although many of his colleagues anonymously told the media they felt the same way.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Lewis said: “We must do what the Prime Minister once said, putting country before party.
“And frankly, party before personal ambitions. I don’t see how this will falter without any solution on the horizon.
“And I think the Labor Party, the Labor elders, the men in the gray suits, are now really thinking seriously about: how can we bring Andy Burnham back into the Labor Party in Parliament and let him be the next prime minister? That’s my personal view. I know it won’t be shared by everyone, but I don’t see any other option.”
His call comes after a tumultuous week for the Government, which saw No 10 launch an unsuccessful briefing operation against Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who Sir Keir’s advisers claimed was already plotting a leadership coup.
Mr Burnham has long been talked about as a potential Labor leader and someone with much higher popularity than the Prime Minister.
Sir Keir suffered another blow to his authority this morning when former No 10 senior adviser John McTernan, who served as Sir Tony Blair’s political secretary, also called on him to “go”.
In a New Statesman article, Mr McTernan warned that after last week’s chaos, including Rachel Reeves’ U-turn on plans to raise income tax in the Budget, there was “no longer a reasonable alternative to a Labor leadership election”.
He added: “There is no clear suggestion of what Labor has or is turning the country into. In the absence of a compelling story, voters have focused on the Government’s actions.”
“In the jargon, the Labor Government lacks a ‘political economy’, a through line connecting its values, actions and aspirations.”
