Final humiliation for Rachel Reeves as she backs Andy Burnham for leader… even though he is expected to ignore her desperate pleas to be kept on as Chancellor

Rachel Reeves backed Andy Burnham to become Prime Minister today, despite being expected to ignore Andy Burnham’s wish to remain Chancellor.

Ms Reeves said she believed the former Manchester Mayor would be ‘fantastic’ in No10 as he approaches taking power from Keir Starmer.

The Cabinet minister’s allies have tried desperately for weeks to persuade Mr Burnham not to sack him from the Treasury.

Ms Reeves skipped Sir Keir’s resignation announcement in Downing Street on Monday morning, but made a strange appearance in a ‘group selfie’ with Mr Burnham of Labor MPs that afternoon.

Advisers are reportedly calling businesses and urging them to lobby the new prime minister about the need for ‘stability’.

However, Mr Burnham’s allies are heavily briefing to replace Ms Reeves, with Ed Miliband seen as the favourite, despite alarm over his ‘Soviet’ economic views and obsession with Net Zero.

In an interview with the BBC, Ms Reeves brushed off suggestions that she should be offered another, more junior role.

‘I will not get in the way of the decisions the new prime minister will make,’ he said. ‘I support Andy.

‘I think he would be a great prime minister, but those are his decisions, not mine to make.’

Ms Reeves made an awkward appearance in Westminster for Mr Burnham’s ‘group selfie’ when he was sworn in on Monday.

Yesterday, Darren Jones, another Cabinet minister previously seen as loyal to Starmer, appeared to praise himself for the No 11 job and suggested Mr Miliband could not meet the ‘tests’ for a new chancellor.

Mr Jones said any Chancellor should not try to ‘control’ the prime minister and should ‘reassure’ markets, unions, MPs and the public, and refused to say whether he thought Mr Miliband had passed those ‘tests’.

Ms Reeves added that ‘no one can doubt’ her devotion to Sir Keir in recent years.

“I have been with him for six years as shadow chancellor and then as chancellor of the exchequer,” he told the public broadcaster.

The chancellor said: ‘I know whoever becomes prime minister and chancellor in the future will inherit a stronger economy than the one I inherited two years ago.’

His comments came ahead of a speech scheduled for the British Chamber of Commerce’s annual global conference on Thursday.

Potential rivals to Mr Burnham are falling by the wayside, meaning he is on track to be confirmed as Prime Minister on July 17.

Former armed forces minister Al Carns, who resigned earlier this month over defense spending, remains a possible candidate, calling for a ‘proper debate’ on the country’s future.

But yesterday he insisted he ‘wants to get behind’ Mr Burnham if he receives reassurances on policies including funding for the army.

More evidence emerged overnight of the potential difficulties Mr Burnham faces if he gets the keys to No 10.

US President Donald Trump made his first assessment of the Makerfield MP as “extremely liberal”.

The US president told reporters that Mr Burnham ‘probably won’t open the North Sea to oil exploration’ and that ‘Britain is dying’.

Mr Burnham has criticized Mr Trump in the past and described US politics as ‘polarized’ and ‘toxic’ during the campaign in June.

As rioters stormed the US Capitol in 2021, Mr Burnham posted on X: ‘Any British politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.’