Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister has suggested that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is not interested in running to become an MP again.

Asked about Clive Lewis saying he might give up his seat to pave the way for Burnham’s return, MacAlister told GB News: “Clive has been known to speak his mind about many leaders of the Labour Party. It won’t be a surprise to anybody that Clive is a critic of the leadership of the Labour Party.

“I think it is a bit of a surprise that he thinks that Andy Burnham, who’s the Mayor of Greater Manchester at the other end of England, might be interested in standing in his seat, but this is a bit of a distraction to be honest.

“I don’t know how serious Clive’s offer is, but Clive has been a long-standing critic of leaders of the Labour Party. He’s respected by many for speaking his mind on these things, and the Labour Party is a broad church, but the government, as you can tell from the other things that we’ve spoken about, is just completely focused on tackling the affordability challenges that families are facing.”

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