Andy Burnham humiliated as Labour MPs tell him to get on with his actual job

Labour's growing civil war intensified on Thursday night as MPs slammed Andy Burnham's bid to oust Sir Keir Starmer.

Prime Minister Sir Keir said the Greater Manchester Mayor would risk a Liz Truss-style market meltdown with his economic plans.

His damning warning of a financial meltdown comes as the Manchester mayor said MPs are urging him to topple Sir Keir.

But some backbench MPs turned on Mr Burnham for openly signalling his desire to become the party's next leader.

One said he "seems to promote himself every time there's a perceived crack in the wall... a bit like Japanese knotweed" and a minister said a "few disgruntled MPs" made up "the Burnham fan club" and the rest just wanted him to "focus on his actual job in Manchester".

One politician said it would be "madness" to boot out Sir Keir just a year into a Labour Government, while one minister branded Burnham's comments "completely illogical and utterly self-indulgent".

Other said Burnham would not be able to return to Parliament.

Markus Campbell-Savours, the Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, said Burnham would need to find a safe seat to come back to the House of Commons.

He said: "There are none. He won't be in Parliament anytime soon. So if there really are colleagues who think he's going to swoop in and save the day, they need to give their head a wobble."

Sojan Joseph, the Labour MP for Ashford, said he "completely supported the prime minister and his vision for change".

He said: "Andy Burnham is doing a very good job as mayor of Manchester and he is best placed to focus on that, rather than speculate on leadership ambitions."

Mr Burnham launched a thinly-veiled attack on Rachel Reeves this week saying the government has to get beyond being "in hock" to the bond markets.

He suggested the Chancellor should go on a borrowing splurge and claimed his own policies would "turn the country around".

He also wants to embark on lowering income tax for low-earners and a 50p rate for higher earners.

But Sir Keir took aim at his potential rival's economic ideas during a broadcast interview this evening where he suggested they could trigger a bond market rout on the scale that followed Ms Truss's mini-budget.

He told ITV: "I'm not going to get drawn into commenting on the mayor's personal ambitions, but I do want to be really clear about our fiscal rules, because economic stability is the foundational stone of this government.

"It was three years ago, this week, that Liz Truss shows what happens if you abandon fiscal rules. Now, in her case, she did that for tax cuts.

"But the same would happen if it was spending.

"And, we saw what happened to working

people three years ago, the infliction of harm on them.

"I'm not prepared to let a Labour government ever inflict that harm on working people.

"Which is why I've always been clear that our fiscal rules are ironclad. And that is because they protect working people.

"And there's nothing progressive about borrowing more than we need to. It's nothing progressive about abandoning fiscal rules."

His blistering takedown comes as speculation mounts that Mr Burnham is looking for a Parliamentary seat as way back into Westminster where he could then launch a leadership challenge.

In two recent interviews the former Cabinet minister, who twice failed to be elected leader of the party when he was an MP, accused Sir Keir of leaving Labour riven by "alienation and demoralisation" since entering No10.

But in a sign of the worsening civil war inside Labour, the Greater Manchester mayor was told to "pipe down" and stay up north and do his job.

Ministers delivered a blunt response, pointing out his term as mayor runs until 2028.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed branded Mr Burnham a "regional politician" and suggested he concentrate on the city, a point later echoed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

"In the same way that this Government is delivering change, I know that Andy is focussed on delivering change in Greater Manchester," she told broadcasters.

Mr Burnham later took to the airwaves himself to insist he is "completely committed" to his current job.

But he again declined to rule out challenging Sir Keir if he won enough backing.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Burnham said: "I've no intention of just abandoning what we're trying to build here, but I gave an honest answer and sometimes it feels to me that the Westminster world can't deal with those answers."

Asked what he would say to Greater Manchester constituents convinced he was about to leave his role, he said: "I love everything about this job. I love what's happening here in Greater Manchester. I'm completely committed to it."

He said he would not "toe the line" or "be quiet" about issues important to Greater Manchester and would "speak directly".

On whether he would run for the top job if he received enough backing from Labour MPs, he said he was "not in the business of answering hypotheticals".

In an interview with the Telegraph which fuelled speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster, the former New Labour minister and ex-MP for Leigh had said MPs are privately urging him to mount a challenge to Sir Keir.

He accused Downing Street of creating a "climate of fear" as he set out his vision for how to "turn the country around", including a potential 50p top rate of income tax.

The senior Labour politician also told the New Statesman that the Labour conference starting on Sunday must answer the question "where is our plan to turn the country around?"

"I'm going to put the question back to people at Labour conference: are we up for that wholesale change?
Suggesting he still harbours ambitions for No 10, he said: "I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn't it?"

But Cabinet minister Mr Reed on Thursday downplayed the criticism of the Prime Minister, saying people had "taken potshots at Keir Starmer before".

Sir Keir has had a bruising few weeks in which two high-profile departures - Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson - and sustained lag behind Reform UK in the polls sparked questions about his political future.

Other Labour figures also urged Mr Burnham to tone down his leadership ambitions ahead of the party's annual conference in Liverpool.

Labour peer Baroness Thangam Debbonaire told Sky News: "I don't think it's helpful for anybody to start sticking their oar in about who should or should not replace Keir Starmer."

She added: "Keir Starmer is our prime minister."

Challenged on whether she thinks the mayor of Greater Manchester should "pipe down", Debbonaire responded: "I would like him to".

Meanwhile, Sacha Lord, a former Labour donor and Mr Burnham's former night-time economy tsar for Greater Manchester, said the Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves had lost his support and new leadership was needed.

"I think somebody really needs to take leadership. Somebody needs to start being what the Labour Party is all about," he told Times Radio.