Rachel Reeves: I'm backing Andy Burnham

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she is now backing Andy Burnham to become the next Prime Minister.

This is despite several reports suggesting she would be demoted to a junior cabinet position if the former Greater Manchester mayor takes on the top job.

Currently, Mr Burnham is the only official candidate to put themselves forward to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. There is still speculation that Scots-born Al Carns MP could stand as well to avoid a Burnham coronation.

Andy Burnham MP | Peter Byrne/Press Association

If no other challenger emerges, Mr Burnham could become Prime Minister as early as July 17.

Ms Reeves told the BBC: “I’m supporting Andy to be Prime Minister.”

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When asked if she would accept a job in his cabinet, she said: “I’m not going to pre-empt the decisions that the new Prime Minister will make.

“I’m backing Andy. I think he’d be a great Prime Minister, but those are his decisions, not mine to make.”

Ms Reeves did not join the group of Starmer allies in Downing Street when Sir Keir announced his resignation on Monday morning - she did however appear in a mass selfie with Mr Burnham in Westminster Hall a few hours later.

The favourites to replace Ms Reeves as chancellor are former health secretary Wes Streeting (who was thought to be standing in a leadership contest himself but not backs Mr Burnham and could be rewarded for this loyalty), former party leader and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden (who held various jobs in the shadow Treasury), and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper (who was chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown).

Chancellor Rachel Reeves | Yui Mok/Press Association

Mr Burnham has previously said he would keep Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules regardless of who he appoints as chancellor.

Ms Reeves said: “I know that whoever is Prime Minister and chancellor in the future will inherit a stronger economy than the one I inherited two years ago.”

This comes as US President Donald Trump branded Mr Burnham “extremely liberal” and “the mayor of a town”.

He said Mr Burnham “probably won’t open up the North Sea” and warned “the UK is dying”.

Mr Burnham has been critical of Mr Trump in the past, and during the Makerfield by-election campaign he described American politics as “polarised” and “poisonous”.