The Greater Manchester Mayor is posing a growing threat to the Prime Minister.
The Manchester Mayor is nicknamed King of the North (Image: Getty)
With a majority of more than 13,000, the Gorton and Denton constituency could offer Mr Burnham a strong chance to become an MP. Labour rebels backing Mr Burnham believe the Prime Minister could be persuaded to step aside in the New Year, it is understood.
One Labour insider said: “Keir Starmer sacked too many Manchester City fans in his reshuffle. They are calling it the Etihad coup. The talk is Andrew Gwynne is ready to go – and if Labour HQ tried to parachute someone else in, Andy would win that battle.”
However, business secretary Peter Kyle suggested that Mr Burnham is better suited to regional politics.
He told Sky News on Sunday: “I think he is doing an incredible job in Manchester at the moment, I think Manchester really needs him.”
The rumours of a coup follow a rocky few weeks back in Parliament for the prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned in the wake of a scandal over her £800k Hove property stamp duty.
This led to a major cabinet reshuffle, which was followed by the now former UK ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, being forced out of his role after the emergence of new details of his relationship with late American paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
