The mayor also told the Telegraph, external that Number 10 had created a “climate of fear” among some MPs.
“People have contacted me throughout the summer”, he said when asked if other MPs had urged him to run for the Labour leadership.
“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”
His comments, likely to be seen as a pitch for a leadership bid, come after his interview with the New Statesman , externalon Wednesday where he criticised the prime minister’s approach, saying there needed to be “wholesale change” to see off an “existential” threat to Labour.
He said he was not attracted to going back to the old way of doing things in Westminster but added: ” I’m happy to play any role. I am ready to play any role in that. Yes. Because the threat we’re facing is increasingly an existential one.”
Burnham said he was ready to work with anybody with a “plan to turn the country around” – including the Liberal Democrats and Jeremy Corbyn.
Those around him say those comments have nothing to do with leadership ambitions, dismissing that as “Westminster speculation”.
But they also say that Burnham felt that something needed to be said about the “factional” way Number 10 was operating, as well as the need for the prime minister’s team to listen to a wider range of voices.
“What we need is a plan to defeat Reform,” one ally said.
A Labour source said: “I’ve heard of a stalking horse, but this guy is going to get hoarse from his endless stalking.”