In last year’s race for deputy Labour leader the first round of nominations closed just six days after the incumbent, Angela Rayner, resigned. Yet it would take Burnham until June at the very earliest to clear all the necessary hurdles to become an MP.
Burnham supporters are asking NEC members to agree an election timetable with a nomination window long enough to include a full by-election campaign, said the three people cited above, all granted anonymity to speak frankly. This would make the timetable more akin to Labour’s three-and-a-half month leadership election in 2020.
One of the three people, a Burnham supporter, said: “If there is a contest the NEC will have to set a process that allows that to happen. It would be absurd not to let Andy stand.”
But a Labour official said a long contest would be “insanity” while an MP said: “The voters gave their verdict on May 7 and it’s in no one’s interest to take months over our response.”
The process for Burnham to run in a by-election is complicated. To do so he would also have to be cleared to stand in the seat by the NEC’s 10 officers. POLITICO reported this week that some NEC members are reconsidering their previous opposition to allowing Burnham to stand in a by-election.
Any race will already see Labour arguing for months over who should be prime minister, rendering Starmer effectively a lame duck at a time of rising living costs and ongoing war in the Middle East.