Minister supports Burnham as Labour MPs split over possible contest for leadership

Leading ally of the PM Nick Thomas-Symonds has said he is backing Andy Burnham to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister.

Thomas-Symonds, who is a Cabinet Office minister, was one of about 200 Labour MPs pictured with Burnham after he was sworn in as an MP on Monday.

Since Sir Keir announced he was stepping down, Labour MPs have been debating whether there should be a contest to replace him or whether possible contenders should withdraw to give Burnham, the frontrunner, a clear path to No 10.

Former defence minister Al Carns and senior minister Darren Jones are both understood to be considering running, now former health secretary Wes Streeting has ditched his own bid.

Thomas-Symonds told BBC Breakfast he was backing Burnham because the party needed “someone with a track record of delivery and delivering change and that’s what we’ve seen from Andy as Mayor of Greater Manchester”.

He added: “But secondly somebody who is best placed to defeat Reform at the next general election.”

Thomas-Symonds pointed to Burnham beating Reform by more than 9,000 votes in Makerfield, adding: “My judgement is simply that we do need to be facing outward to the country and a swift and orderly transition is what I’ll be supporting.”

Some MPs, including Nottingham East’s Nadia Whittome, say a contest over the summer is the only democratic way for Labour to test candidates’ ideas.

But many of those MPs who remained loyal to Sir Keir to the end are highly sceptical of backing a challenge against Burnham – making it seem unlikely that Jones or Carns would actually be able to muster the 81 backers needed to enter a contest.

An ally of Jones was heavily playing down the likelihood that he would ultimately end up trying to stand.

They said that Jones merely wanted to know more about Burnham’s platform, especially on economic policy.