STARMER IS HAVING A COMPLETE MAYOR

Backlash as rival told to stay in city leader job

- ASHLEY COWBURN

KEIR Starmer appealed for unity in his party yesterday while the backlash grew over Andy Burnham's rejection as a by-election candidate.

The PM said the party's MPs ‘all need to line up together” in the fight against Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK.

‘After a barrage of criticism within Labour's ranks, Starmer said: “Yes, there is a fight, but that fight is with Reform and we all need to line up together to be in that fight, all playing our part.

“Everybody in the Labour Party, everybody whos a Labour MP, wants to be in that fight, wants to fight alongside all their colleagues in a fight that matters hugely to the future of our country’

Attempting to downplay the rift between him and the so-called King of the North, the PM said Burnham was “doing a great job as the Mayor of Manchester”.