Andy Burnham has said there is a climate of fear in Labour and it needs to change, as he defended his actions in “launching a debate” about the future of the party – seen by many as a challenge to Keir Starmer.
The Greater Manchester mayor has prompted outrage within No 10 and among cabinet ministers after he said last week that many MPs had urged him to run as Labour leader and questioned the government’s economic approach.
No 10 had hoped Burnham would stop criticising the party at its Liverpool conference, with Starmer warning that navel-gazing and introspection was not the way to fight a generational battle for the soul of the country against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Alan Johnson, a former Labour cabinet minister, told the BBC that his advice for Burnham was: “Go and find a television camera, stand in front of it and say ‘I have no intention of standing against the elected leader of our party’.”
However, Burnham defended his actions and continued his criticisms of Labour at a fringe event on Sunday, saying: “I’ve been accused of all things in the last week, as you can probably see.
“I’ve done nothing more than launch a debate. And what I would say to those who say that I’m speaking out purely for my own ambition, I can say to you all tonight I am speaking out for the thousands of councillors here at this conference who are worried about going to those doorsteps next May, speaking for the members of the Senedd who, again, are working hard to keep Wales Labour, that’s what we want to do next year.
“And, of course, members of the Scottish parliament as well, who want a stronger story about Labour to go to those doorsteps. I’m speaking out for the millions of good people around Britain who want a more hopeful direction for the country.”
He called for Labour to end a “climate of fear” in the party, saying there should be more room for debate and people should be able to express a broader range of views.
“One thing I am worried about, and I think we do need to debate at this conference in my view, is how can you have an open debate about all of those things if there’s too much of a climate of fear within our party and the way the party is being run,” he said.
He criticised a situation where “a party member is suspended for liking a tweet by another political party, or a member of parliament loses the whip for trying to protect disability benefits”.
He added: “If that is the way we’re doing things, where debate is being closed down, that to me is what we’ve got to change.”
He also spoke out against demands for “simplistic statements of loyalty”, saying: “If that closes down the debate we need, I think it’s at risk of underestimating the peril the party is in as we get to the polls next May.”
Senior party figures have been privately furious with Burnham, particularly over comments questioning the economic approach of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. “We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets,” he said in an interview with the New Statesman.
They last week compared the Greater Manchester mayor’s attitude to the cavalier approach taken by the former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, in a sign of how low relations between No 10 and Burnham have plunged.
Speaking at a different fringe event, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, called for the party “to get behind our team captain”, but also offered a coded attack of his own, saying the government should be more open to debate and internal criticism.
“We would have avoided some of the mistakes of the past year if we’d listened to our MPs. We’ve got to have the humility to listen,” he said.
“We do have to be able to create space for us to engage in a battle of ideas,” Streeting added. “Especially when things are this tough, and where we’ve got an existential fight on our hands against Reform at the next general election, we have to be self-confident in our ideas, our vision and direction as government ministers, and be open to challenge, and open to critique and engage in the battle of ideas ourselves.”
Last week, UK borrowing costs surged to the highest level since early September, in what may have been market unease at Burnham’s comments. One official said the rise was equivalent to half of what it would cost to scrap the two-child benefit limit, which Burnham has called for.
Starmer is also understood to be furious at Burnham’s admission, in several interviews, that he would seek to challenge the prime minister for the leadership if there was a path to do so.
Burnham would need a Westminster seat to challenge for the leadership and there is currently no vacancy. But he is seen by a number of Labour MPs as an opportunity for a change in economic strategy and a more robust challenger to Reform UK.
