ENOUGH ..of these gutless briefings

Mayor defends Burnham ahead of key byelection

- BY ALEXANDER BROWN Assistant Political Editor and LIZZY BUCHAN Political Editor

ANOTHER senior Labour figure waded into the Andy Burnham row yesterday, saying anonymous briefings against him were helping the party's opponents.

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram defended his Manchester counterpart after criticism from an unnamed Cabinet minister.

Mr Rotheram said: “Enough already. These gutless people hide behind the cloak of anonymity — just like the keyboard warriors they rail against.

“If they want to know what the use of political power is then we can compare which campaigns they have assisted with compared to Andy.

“But of course that would require them to go on the record.

“These anonymous attacks help nobody but our opponents.”