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Two Labour MPs are considering mounting a challenge for the party’s leadership after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned on Monday.
Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely seen as the frontrunner to take over as Labour leader. But ex-minister for the armed forces Al Carns and Darren Jones, the PM’s chief secretary, are said to be lining up challenges in order to prevent Burnham winning without a contest.
They would each need support from 81 MPs in order to challenge Burnham.
Speaking on ITV’s Peston political show on Monday, Carns, a former marine who served in the military for 24 years before entering politics, said he had not yet made a decision on whether to stand but that the UK needed a “national conversation” on “what this country wants to be at the next general election”.
Carns also laid out his vision for change in an essay published on Monday, titled “The next leader has to govern differently”.
In the essay, the MP for Birmingham Selly Oak said the government must focus on improving opportunities for British young people, building a strategy to protect the National Health Service and making the UK “the best place in Europe” to start and scale a company.
“I know colleagues will be thinking about setting out their agendas. They should. But the conversation has to centre on national purpose,” he added.
Jones, who is also the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has reportedly been urged by allies of Starmer to make a move against Burnham.
Jones is a Starmer loyalist and has been the MP for Bristol North West since 2017.
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled himself out of a leadership race after he announced his backing for Burnham.
In a statement on Monday, Streeting said he was convinced the Labour Party could get itself back on track and fight off the growing challenge of the right under Burnham’s leadership.
“We were elected (to) change our country, to show that politics can be a force for good, and to spread opportunity for everyone. With Andy, we still can,” he wrote.
Who is Andy Burnham?
The PM favourite was sworn in as an MP in Westminster on Monday, where he was met with shouts of “Rome is saved” and “he’s not the Messiah” as he made his way through the House of Commons.
The former Manchester mayor previously served as the MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017.
Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election last week, winning around 55% of the vote and beating out candidates from both Reform UK and Restore Britain.
Speaking after his victory, Burnham warned the Labour Party that it had a “final chance to change” and “build a new politics based on unity and hope”.