Wes Streeting is being talked up to become Andy Burnham\u2019s chancellor \u2013 as some MPs campaign to stop Ed Miliband from landing the job.<\/p>\n
The jockeying comes after Burnham won the Makerfield by-election on Thursday with 54.8 per cent of the vote, clearing his path to a widely anticipated challenge for the Labour leadership.<\/p>\n
With Sir Keir Starmer weakened by a months-long crisis over the party\u2019s direction and electoral fortunes,<\/a> attention at Westminster has turned to who would run the Treasury \u2013 and replace Rachel Reeves as chancellor \u2013 in a possible Burnham government.<\/p>\n Multiple MPs have told The i Paper they believe Streeting is eyeing up the role, despite his public insistence that he intends to stand in any forthcoming leadership contest. Streeting quit his role as health secretary in Starmer\u2019s Cabinet last month, having signalled he was prepared to mount his own bid to become prime minister.<\/p>\n One Burnham ally went further, suggesting that Streeting had pitched directly for the chancellorship when the two men met in Makerfield on 8 June\u00a0 \u2013 a claim denied by a source close to Streeting.<\/p>\n \u201cWes wants the job as chancellor, he said so to Andy when they met,\u201d the ally said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean he will get it, but it does mean there is a glide path back to Health or another senior job.\u201d<\/p>\n Streeting\u2019s allies insist no deal has been struck with Burnham although the pair have met and spoken several times over recent weeks. Even so, some MPs are speculating that Streeting will fall in behind Burnham rather than trigger a contest \u2013 handing him a coronation \u2013 in return for a major cabinet post.<\/p>\n