When the eyes of Westminster were on the committee rooms and voting lobbies of parliament this week, Keir Starmer\u2019s political future was being decided elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner were buttering up Labour<\/a> MPs in the Strangers\u2019 Bar in parliament as colleagues spoke of their \u201cexistential\u201d fear about the crucial elections next week.<\/p>\n Starmer, meanwhile, tried to calm backbenchers\u2019 nerves as he did the rounds in the members-only smoking room and his private office behind the Commons chamber. One former minister said the mood was so dark that several MPs refused to meet the leader, saying: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be seen with him.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy Burnham was 800 miles away in Madrid as Starmer\u2019s future dominated Westminster. But allies of the Greater Manchester<\/a> mayor were ramping up his leadership campaign and said his return to parliament \u2013 and become the next prime minster \u2013 could happen \u201cwithin weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n Burnham has been quietly preparing his manifesto. Those close to the mayor said he would launch an explicit programme for government when he fights his eventual parliamentary byelection campaign, with several possible seats identified in Greater Manchester and Merseyside.<\/p>\n Pledges would include sweeping reforms to the electoral system \u2013 backing the introduction of proportional representation across the UK \u2013 as well as a decade-long vision to transform local services, higher defence spending and an overhaul of inheritance tax to pay for Britain\u2019s creaking social care system.<\/p>\n \u2018We don\u2019t want to be seen with him\u2019 \u2026 some MPs have not been willing to meet Keir Starmer, according to a former minister. Photograph: Jack Taylor\/PA<\/p>\n Sources close to Burnham told the Guardian he had identified more than one seat that could become available soon after the 7 May elections \u2013 and that an \u201cimpressive\u201d candidate was lined up to replace him as Labour\u2019s Greater Manchester mayor.<\/p>\n It is understood this candidate is not a sitting MP but is believed to have the pedigree to win a high-stakes mayoral election against Reform UK.<\/p>\n Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, is tipped for the candidacy and is understood not to have ruled herself out. She declined to comment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could get a very good candidate over the line in Greater Manchester. Andy feels confident that can happen,\u201d said one Burnham ally. \u201cThere are very strong possibilities of this happening within weeks, but certainly months and over the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s team suggested this week that any attempted Westminster return would be fiercely resisted. Those close to the prime minister have said the prospect of losing the mayoralty is a risk not worth taking \u2013 though it is possible that changes to the electoral system in the forthcoming elections bill would give Labour a better chance against Reform in a more proportional voting system.<\/p>\n Members of Labour\u2019s national executive committee, which blocked Burnham from standing in February\u2019s Gorton and Denton byelection<\/a>, told the Guardian there was no route for the mayor through that committee.<\/p>\n Some allies of Burnham are believed to have been attempting to convince union general secretaries to change their views, with Unison the key target. Others, like GMB, have ruled out supporting Burnham because of his closeness with Ed Miliband, who is at odds with the union over oil and gas licences.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would only happen if Keir effectively gave up and said: \u2018OK, we\u2019ll let Andy in so I can step down,\u2019\u201d one said. The chances of that happening, according to those close to Starmer, is close to zero.<\/p>\n Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, who has been tipped to replace Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Yet a growing number of Labour MPs believe this position to be completely unsustainable after a fortnight of damaging headlines over Peter Mandelson and the battering many expect in elections across England<\/a>, Wales and Scotland next week.<\/p>\n