Andy Burnham today distanced himself from a much-mocked suggestion he will be Labour’s ‘first female prime minister’ if he enters Downing Street.
The former Greater Manchester mayor, who is almost certain to replace Keir Starmer as Labour premier, insisted he was not behind the astonishing claim.
‘I want to put on record that I never have and never will describe myself as the first female Labour PM!,’ Mr Burnham told a meeting of female Labour MPs.
It followed a furious backlash over a senior Labour figure attempting to portray Mr Burnham as ‘a female PM in all but sex’.
They had claimed Mr Burnham would be ‘Labour’s first woman PM’ because he is ‘genuinely passionate about all those traditionally female-oriented issues’.
Labour MPs fumed at the comments, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch quipped that Labour ‘might have changed leader, but they still don’t know what a woman is’.
Mr Burnham attempted to extinguish the row as he addressed the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Tuesday, during which he also vowed to tackle a culture of negative briefing at Westminster.
The meeting also saw Mr Burnham hit with demands to ensure at least half of his ministers and half of his No10 staff are women if he succeeds Sir Keir, who has previously been accused of allowing a ‘boys club’ in Downing Street.
Andy Burnham has distanced himself from a much-mocked suggestion he will be Labour’s ‘first female prime minister’ if he enters Downing Street
Labour MPs fumed at the claim, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch quipped that Labour ‘might have changed leader, but they still don’t know what a woman is’
Mr Burnham told female Labour MPs the culture needs to change around negative briefing, adding: ‘I want to make it clear that if anyone in my team was found to have done that they would be out of the door. Their feet wouldn’t touch the floor.’
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mr Burnham is said to have been handed a letter from female Labour MPs asking that he commit to ensuring at least 50 per cent of his ministers are women.
The letter, seen by LBC, also requested that half of his No10 staff are female, he commits to giving the role of Deputy PM to a woman, and that he creates a First Minister of State for Women role who attends Cabinet.
Despite Labour having a record-breaking 190 female MPs elected at the 2024 general election, the party is set to continue its long history of only having male leaders.
Mr Burnham is all but certain to replace Sir Keir next month as no other Labour leadership contenders are expected to put their names forward.
If he does succeed Sir Keir, then Mr Burnham will be Labour’s 20th permanent UK-wide leader and eighth PM – all of whom have been male.
By contrast, the Tories have had four female leaders and three female PMs.
The letter handed to Mr Burnham said that Labour’s female MPs ‘fought very hard to achieve our electoral success only to find that we are battling within our own party to be heard as women’.
‘Rooms where decisions are being made are often closed to us leading to blind spots in appointment decisions and policy development,’ it added.
‘The tendency of previous leaderships to sideline the voices of women makes us a weaker government.’
The letter also said, since Labour’s election win in 2024, the Women’s PLP had ‘raised concerns about structural misogyny, the culture in No10, bullying behaviour being rewarded, sexual harassment being ignored and engagement with both the party and the PLP being inadequate’.
Following the scandal over his ill-fated appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the US, Sir Keir came under pressure from Labour MPs to dismantle a so-called ‘boys club’ in Downing Street.
