Ever since Andy Burnham<\/a> abandoned Westminster to become Greater Manchester\u2019s first ever mayor in 2017, he has been dogged with questions about returning to parliament for the top job. He never hid his ambition to become prime minister one day \u2013 he couldn\u2019t, really, given that he tried and failed twice to become Labour party leader. But he insisted time and again that he was perfectly happy back in his beloved north, and had no plans to get back to London.<\/p>\n Then on Saturday night, he finally cracked. He wrote to Labour\u2019s ruling body to ask for permission to stand in Gorton and Denton, promising a \u201chopeful and unifying campaign\u201d, in what he admitted was a risky move. Winning the byelection was not a given and he would have to give up being the mayor if he succeeded. But instead he was blocked by the committee, including Keir Starmer<\/a>, from standing at all.<\/p>\n Peter Walker<\/strong>, senior political correspondent, tells Helen Pidd<\/strong> about the extraordinary weekend: \u201cIt\u2019s a classic Labour<\/a> stitch-up. I know, every party does it, but Labour does it in its own special way.\u201d So is this the end of Burnham\u2019s ambitions? Hardly, says Walker.<\/p>\n![\"Starmer](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/eea3e13a7ebdf6afc0b913b9775af42068c39fc2\/425_0_3338_2670\/master\/3338.jpg?width=620&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none\")
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