Burnham tipped as next leader
MP Andy Burnham is being tipped as a successor to Gordon Brown.
Mr Burnham from Leigh, currently Secretary of State for Health, saw his political stock rise to new heights today when he was tipped as the next leader of the Labour Party.
It is believed he is preparing to pitch his hat into the ring for the party leadership AFTER the general election.
The claim comes in the London Evening Standard by their respected and authoritative Commons commentator and deputy political editor, Paul Waugh.
But a spokesman for Mr Burnham said today that there were no plans for a leadership bid because Gordon Brown had his full support.
Waugh says that allies of popular Mr Burnham have already begun work in the corridors of power to welcome his push for the top job.
Fellow Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, it is said, has already been
identified as Mr Burnham's campaign manager if Labour lose the election.
Senior party sources are reported as seeing Mr Burnham as a fresh and vibrant new choice compared to the current front-runners for the Labour leadership, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Schools Secretary Ed Balls.
Still under 40, Mr Burnham is also easily the youngest of the leadership contenders.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson remains the top choice of many MPs to succeed Mr Brown and has not ruled out running.
Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman has told colleagues publicly and privately that she had "no intention" of contesting the leadership, despite speculation that she would be a strong candidate among the rank and file.
Mr Burnham, says journalist Mr Waugh, has the "perfect Labour back story" as a working-class, state-school educated Northerner who went to Cambridge before working for Ms Jowell in opposition.
He was special adviser to Culture Secretary Chris Smith before clinching the safe Labour seat following the retirement of Lawrence Cunliffe.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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