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Mr Burnham faces a number of hurdles if he’s to make use of this second to return to Westminster.

His candidacy should be accepted by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), which has been seen as beneath the management of Sir Keir Starmer’s supporters.

The Prime Minister himself wouldn’t be drawn on Thursday on whether or not Mr Burnham ought to stand, saying the NEC would set out the method for selecting a candidate and including that he was “doing an excellent job as mayor of Manchester”.

But stories recommend Sir Keir’s allies are already mobilising to dam Mr Burnham’s candidacy, arguing it might destabilise the Government.

On Thursday, a supply near the NEC stated it was “hard to tell” whether or not the mayor could be accepted as a candidate for the competition, with assist among the many social gathering’s ruling physique “not clear”.

But a backbench MP instructed PA Labour could be “foolish” to dam him from standing, including the social gathering could be “completely finished” if it did so.

And Steve Wright, common secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, stated blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy could be “a democratic outrage”, including the union would “fiercely resist any attempts to stitch up the selection”.