Burnham throws challenge

Are we up for that wholesale change? Yes, I'm happy to play any role in that

- BY ASHLEY COWBURN Deputy Political Editor

ANDY Burnham has warned Britain needs "wholesale change" to face off an "existential threat" in a challenge to Keir Starmer right before Labour's conference.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, who has been tipped as a future successor to the Prime Minister, insisted he was not plotting an immediate return to the Commons.

But in an interview with the New Statesman - just days before Labour members gather in Liverpool - he appeared to criticise the direction of Labour's leadership.

Mr Burnham warned the "challenge we've got in front of us cannot be met by a very factional and quite divisive running of the Labour Party".