Is Andy Burnham about to try and oust Keir Starmer as PM? | Politics | News

In politics, timing is everything. Grab your luck, collect the rewards. If you hesitate, you die.

Take David Miliband, for example. Labour’s one-time elected figure had multiple opportunities to unseat Gordon Brown in 2008 before being bottled.

His chance finally came a few years later with Labour’s dismissal. However, it is known that he lost to his brother Ed in the race to succeed Brown.

The former Miliband has not been seen in politics since.

Similar things could be said of James Purnell, a cabinet member in the Brown government who could also be put forward as a future Labor leader.

However, he resigned in anger in 2009 in an attempt to oust the then Prime Minister and resigned as an MP less than a year later.

What do these almost men have in common?

They were among Labour’s rising stars in the 2000s, all sitting around the Cabinet table and ready to take over from Brown’s fists.

Burnham also got the chance to lead the party. He failed twice.

Once in 2010, he was eliminated in the first round.

Five years later, he lost to Jeremy Corbyn.

Although Burnham was a successful mayor of Manchester, he was a serial loser on the big stage.

But the “King in the North” may be about to make one last offer for a job he clearly covets.

There are two questions everyone in Westminster has been asking since former Labor Secretary Andrew Gwynne announced this week that he would step down as an MP.

“Will Andy survive?” and “Will Keir let him?”

The by-election in Gwynne’s Gorton and Denton constituency has provided the former Health Secretary with a possible route back to Parliament.

However, there are some obstacles on this path.

Will Labour’s board, full of Keir Starmer supporters, allows him to run.

There is also the question of whether he can win the seat.

Labor has a 13,000 majority but support has fallen nationally and Reform UK is on the rise.

And there’s also the question of whether he can get enough support from Labor MPs if he challenges Sir Keir for the leadership.

His track record does not bode well.

Burnham also failed to endear himself to the current crop.

Last year, ahead of the Labor Party conference, he faced backlash from dozens of Labor MPs over suggestions he might stage a coup.

This hostility has not disappeared.

Labor sources say the problem with Burnham is that “it’s always about Andy Burnham”.

Whatever happens, everything is likely to work out sooner or later.

Labor wants the by-election to be held quickly, with the candidate likely to be known by next week.