Starmer offers Burnham a Job.

It goes without saying that the writing is on the wall that if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election and returns to Westminster, he plans to challenge the sitting Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to a leadership bid. Other candidates are expected to announce their bid in due course. One being former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who seemed to avoid questions about any leadership challenge recently. Angela Rayner, who once stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Starmer as Deputy Prime Minister, is also expected to announce her candidature. Others may come out of the brickwork as time goes on.

Sir Keir has been at the G7 summit in France over the weekend. Starmer would have met other European leaders like France's Macron, Germany's Merz, and Italy's Giorgia Meloni. Obviously, he would have met Trump. Their relationship has recently taken a dive over the comments Trump made about British troops in Afghanistan. Also, Sir Keir Starmer did not give full backing to Trump's war on Iran. Starmer would only allow US bombers to use British bases after he relented somewhat. Britain said it was going to send a warship, HMS Dragon, after an Iranian or Hezbollah projectile fell near a British base in Cyprus. For Trump, this was a betrayal of the special relationship. Mr. Trump said Sir Keir was no "Winston Churchill". Nevertheless, Sir Keir remained steadfast in opposing the war. Although supposedly, British assets were in the air defending Gulf nations against incoming Iranian missiles and drones.

What seemed to smooth things over was King Charles' visit to the US, who was wined and dined by the US president. Some said that because HRH got on with Trump, it saved the relationship between Britain and the US. So, on the back of that, one wonders how Trump and Starmer got on at the G7. Did they rekindle their friendship that seemed so promising in the beginning?

Sky's Beth Rigby sat down to talk with the prime minister over the weekend during the G7 summit. The subject of Andy Burnham came up, and Ms. Rigby asked Sir Keir about him. Sir Keir said that if Mr. Burnham were returned to parliament, he would offer him a "big job" in the cabinet. Mr. Starmer hoped Mr. Burnham would win the Makerfield by-election as it would be a victory for Labour regardless of the challenge Andy Burnham might launch against Sir Keir. In the cabinet Mr. Starmer said Andy would be a great asset to the government and to the country at large. Sir Keir didn't seem to bear any grievance or anger toward Mr. Burnham.

Sir Keir related that when he was first elected to parliament in 2015, he worked well with Andy Burnham. Beth asked Sir Keir whether he would be talking to Mr. Burnham. Sir Keir said he would hopefully be talking to Andy after the weekend's G7 summit.

Sir Keir said Andy Burnham had been a great mayor for Manchester. And if Mr. Burnham became a member of parliament for Makerfield, Labour would have to find a replacement for him. Of course, if this leads to an election, should Andy be returned to parliament, then Labour will contest that with a new candidate. Of course, other parties will also be putting up candidates for Mayor of Greater Manxchester.

The question is what happens if Andy Burnham doesn't win Makerfield? If Andy Burnham has stepped down as the Mayor of Manchester, he won't be able to return to his former job. Will his political career then be over?

Going forward, Andy Burnham and Sir Keir Starmer both have a lot on their political plate.

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