The plan shows the gravity with which allies of Burnham, who previously served as a minister under Tony Blair, are treating the prospect of him becoming the seventh occupant of 10 Downing Street since 2016.
Burnham’s team is also having to re-examine his wide array of past comments, which range from saying Britain is “in hock” to the bond markets to suggesting an end to the system of whipping MPs in parliament. On Monday his team ruled out changing the existing rules that limit government borrowing, though Burnham suggested in the past that he could do so to spend more on defense.
A spokesperson for Burnham declined to comment.
The speed at which election losses on May 7 threw Starmer’s leadership into turmoil — and catapulted the 56-year-old Burnham into the lead to replace him — means the mayor’s allies are working simultaneously on a by-election campaign to beat Nigel Farage’s right-wing party Reform UK and a national policy plan for governing from No. 10.
A fourth person who has worked with Burnham said they were “quite worried” that too little work had been done so far on government-level policy, though they said there was still time. “If you don’t get this right, you end up with Nigel Farage as prime minister,” they added.
Labour officially selected Burnham Tuesday as its candidate for a June parliamentary by-election in Makerfield, a clutch of towns and villages near the post-industrial town of Wigan in England’s northwest.