MP Karl Turner said he spoke to Angela Rayner today and she told him she does not want to be Labour leader, but will run if Wes Streeting mounts a challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.
Turner, who lost the Labour whip earlier this year, told GB News: “The reality is this: Angela Rayner would allow Andy Burnham in if Angela Rayner was the leader of the Labour Party. But I know Angie. I’ve spoken to her today. Angie doesn’t want to be the leader of the Labour Party.
“She wants the Prime Minister to succeed. But I tell you this much, if Wes Streeting stands, Angela Rayner stands, that’s the reality.”
On Starmer’s move in February to block Burnham’s return to Parliament, he said: “I had a conversation with Keir Starmer at the time. I told him not to go anywhere near the NEC meeting. I said, ‘Keep away from it. If you made your position clear with the NEC, they’re going to do what you asked them to do’.
“It’s a mistake to block Burnham, the most popular figure in not just the Labour Party, but in politics, per se, more popular than Boris Johnson ever was, according to the polling, more popular than Nigel Farage, according to the polling.
“Why on earth are you blocking the man who is popular from standing in a by-election which we were unlikely to win unless Burnham is the candidate? The answer was, he made a decision he was going to block Burnham.
“I tried and begged and pleaded with him not to do the daftest thing that I thought he was ever going to do. I mean, honestly, he just doesn’t seem to want to listen.
“Now we’ve got Angela Rayner coming out with a statement saying she’s almost rowing back a bit, supporting Andy Burnham back into Parliament. The problem with that, of course, is this: which seat is he going to have? Is it going to be a seat we can win? If you look at what was happening in the local elections a few days ago, I’m not sure there’s any safe seat for the Labour Party right now.
“This idea that the soft left and left of the Parliamentary Labour Party have got that somehow Burnham’s going to come in and magic up a seat and then be elected with a resounding majority, so much so that he can be the leader of the Labour Party, I don’t think it’s likely.”
He added: “What was going through his mind is that he didn’t want a challenger for his premiership. That’s the only thing that was going through his mind, and I think he persuaded the national executive. We understand that Ellie Reeves, who was part of that NEC meeting, didn’t really want to block Andy Burnham.
“To have a row with her sister, Rachel Reeves, if the press reports are true, I don’t know, I’ve not spoken to Ellie and I’ve not spoken to Rachel about it, but look, the idea of blocking Burnham was a terrible mistake.
“What he should have done with Burnham is bring him in. Andy Burnham’s apparently the king of the north, make him the Minister for the North. He could have put Andy Burnham in charge of the local elections when it went badly, as we now know, it did go badly. He could have blamed Andy Burnham if he wanted to stop Burnham’s prospects of taking him out as the PM.
“He’s got no politics about him. That’s the problem with Keir Starmer.”
