Andy Burnham is set to create a ‘No 10 in the north’ by moving some of his Downing Street operation to Manchester, if he enters Downing Street as expected, reports suggest.
He edged closer to a coronation on Wednesday after one of his leadership rivals Darren Jones, a key ally of Keir Starmer, ruled himself out of the race.
Dubbed Labour’s ‘King of the North’, Mr Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is expected to set out his plans in a speech on the devolution of power on Monday.
He has long criticised what he sees as Westminster-centric politics, which he argues is holding the back the UK economy.
He returned to Westminster last week after he won a by-election to become the new MP for Makerfield, in Greater Manchester.
But he has reportedly told staff he expects to be spending large amounts of time in the city if he takes over as prime minister.
He has also pledged to govern according to a “Makerfield test”, which would see policies are measured against how they would affect his new constituents.
After the dramatic announcement of his resignation on Monday, Downing Street has also confirmed Sir Keir will remain an MP after he steps down as prime minister.
But suggestions he could take a job in a Burnham government appear wide of the mark.
His official spokesman said he had told ministers “this is the end of my journey, but this is not the end of yours”.
Despite a previous pledge, No 10 also failed to rule out that Sir Keir would award so-called ‘resignation honours’.
The outgoing PM criticised Boris Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list, and promised he would never do the same.
However, asked if Sir Keir would draw up his own list, Downing Street said giving an answer to that question would be “getting ahead of ourselves”.
After he ruled out standing, Mr Jones, now widely as a leading candidate for the role of chancellor in a Burnham government, appeared to warn against handing Ed Miliband the keys to Number 11, declining to give his support to the energy secretary as he set out a series of “tests” that should determine its next occupant.
His decision to remove himself from any leadership contest removes another obstacle on Mr Burnham’s route to the highest office in the land, with only one other MP being discussed as a serious possible challenger.
Al Carns, the former armed forces minister who resigned earlier this month in protest at levels of defence spending, has refused to say he will not stand and challenged Mr Burnham to set out his policy ideas. But it is not clear he could get the support of Labour MPs required to enter the contest.
The new PM, the UK’s fifth in four years, could enter Downing Street by July 18, if no other candidate secures the 81 nominations necessary to secure a place on the Labour leadership ballot.
Moving key parts of the government or Parliament out of London has been done in the past, though not with an office as high profile as No 10.
In January building of a new government hub in Darlington got underway, with a breaking ground ceremony led by the chancellor Rachel Reeves.
In 2020, the then prime minister Boris Johnson urged the Parliamentary authorities to look at the idea of moving the House of Lords out of London while the Palace of Westminster is revamped.
One of the possible locations suggested was York, but the idea was ultimately rejected.
