Burnham calls for wholesale Labour shift to blunt Reform threat

Andy Burnham said MPs have privately urged him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer and called for a wholesale change in Labour’s direction to blunt the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform party, remarks that have intensified leadership speculation as the party heads into its annual conference in Liverpool this weekend. The mayor of Greater Manchester made the comments in interviews with national publications in which he set out a broad programme of economic and constitutional reform and warned that business as usual in Westminster will not be enough to meet what he called an existential threat to Labour.

Burnham insisted he is not planning an immediate return to the Commons but said colleagues have contacted him over the summer about a possible bid, adding he is willing to “play any role” in a plan to turn the country around. He also told interviewers he would not mount a challenge before May 2026. He repeatedly framed his intervention as a call for policy change rather than personality politics, asking conference delegates “are we up for that wholesale change?” and saying “politics BAU, business as usual, Westminster politics, ain’t gonna do it.”

On policy, Burnham outlined a platform of...