Andy Burnham has been blocked from standing as a candidate for an upcoming parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton by Labour’s ruling body.
As a directly elected mayor, Burnham had to get approval from Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), after he applied to be a candidate on Saturday.
Labour sources have told the BBC lots of concerns were raised about the costs of an election to replace Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor and the “prospect of a divisive campaign”.
But allies of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer feared Burnham – a former cabinet minister – could mount a leadership challenge, should he return to Westminster.
The move is likely to infuriate Labour MPs and some ministers who said local party members should have had the option of choosing the Greater Manchester mayor as the candidate.
It is a big political gamble by allies of the prime minister and risks inflaming tensions within the party, which is consistently trailing Reform UK in national opinion polls.
One senior Labour source who had been supportive of Burnham’s candidacy said: “They’re gambling the PM’s whole premiership on winning a very hard by-election without their best candidate. It is madness.”
The decision was made by 10 members of the NEC, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, party chair Ellie Reeves and the prime minister himself on Sunday morning.
NEC sources told the BBC the vote was 8-1 in favour of blocking Burnham’s candidacy.
The prime minister was among those who voted to block Burnham from standing.
Mahmood abstained as the chair, while Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell voted to allow him to stand.
Sir Keir’s allies say Burnham is doing “a very good job” as mayor of Greater Manchester, adding a mayoral by election “would cost the party hundreds of thousands of pounds” and “cost the country millions of pounds during a cost-of-living crisis”.
The prime minister’s supporters were worried Reform UK “would outspend us ten to one” during the by-election campaign.
The argument those who blocked Burnham intend to make publicly is that during a period of geopolitics dominating the headlines and deep concerns about the cost of living at home, there would be no appetite in the country for a “return to political psychodramas of the Tory years”.
There was “overwhelming support” in the meeting “for upholding clear Labour Party rules preventing mayors and PCCs standing in by-elections”, a source said.
Earlier, Mahmood told the BBC allowing elected mayors to run as candidates in parliamentary by-elections had “organisational implications” for the party.
A mayoral election in Greater Manchester could also be costly for the taxpayer, with the last one costing about £4.7m.