Norwich MP Clive Lewis offers seat to Burnham for Starmer challenge
Labour MP Clive Lewis has offered to give up his seat to allow Andy Burnham to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
There has been ongoing speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham wants to take on Sir Keir for the top job, but he would need to be an MP to do so.
Lewis told the BBC’s Politics Live that he was willing to step down from his Norwich South seat to allow Burnham to return to the Commons and put “country before party, party before personal ambition”.
Burnham was contacted for comment. Number 10 declined to comment.
Lewis, who has been an MP for 10 years, said he had spoken to Burnham, and when asked if he would give up his seat for him, he said it was “a question I’ve asked myself”.
He added: “Do you know what? If I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I.”
Last week, he said Sir Keir’s position as prime minister was “untenable” and told Channel 4 News that Burnham should be given the chance to “step up”.
Lewis first won his seat in 2015, and last year he increased his majority to more than 13,000.
But if he were to step down, any would-be successor would first need to win a selection contest before a by-election was held.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who last week denied claims he was plotting a leadership bid of his own – told LBC he thought it was a “peculiar” move by the Norwich South MP.
“I’ve got a lot of time for Andy and I think we need our best players on the pitch,” Streeting said.
“And whether he’s doing that as mayor of Greater Manchester or whether he wants to come back into parliament in the next general election, that is an issue for Andy.
“I think it’s a bit of a peculiar thing for Clive to have said to his own constituents, ‘Oh, well, I’m not interested in being your MP, I’m happy to do a deal with someone’.
“I would just say from personal experience, don’t take your voters for granted.”
In September, Burnham said he had “no intention of abandoning Manchester” but did not rule out challenging Sir Keir after a series of interviews in which he said colleagues had been urging him to stand.
Two Manchester Labour MPs, Andrew Gwynne and Graham Stringer, ruled out standing down for him ahead of the party’s conference in September.
Sir Keir has, meanwhile, said he will lead Labour into the next general election. It came after a bruising time last week, when anonymous briefings were given to journalists that some cabinet ministers – including Streeting – were plotting to oust him.
The ministers concerned have insisted this is not the case – but speculation continues about whether the PM will face a challenge in May, when Labour is expected to do badly in Scottish and Welsh elections, and in English local elections.
Anyone mounting a leadership bid would have to secure the backing of 80 Labour MPs.
