Andy Burnham has been described as a human “shopping trolley” by allies of Wes Streeting after performing a series of U-turns on key policies in recent days.
The attack on left-winger Mr Burnham came amid an increasingly bitter war of words between the two men who are bidding to replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister.
A close ally of Mr Streeting has told The Independent that he intends to expose what he regards as a series of inconsistencies in Mr Burnham’s policies if a formal Labour leadership contest is triggered, after he backtracked on his stance on Brexit and economic policies.
“Burnham is a human shopping trolley. Wes has a few surprises which will expose that to a wider audience,” said the source.
The withering “shopping trolley” jibe was first used by Boris Johnson’s senior No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings to deride what he saw as Mr Johnson’s chaotic conduct as prime minister.
Mr Burnham and Mr Streeting are the two main contenders to succeed Sir Keir if he is forced to leave Downing Street. Mr Streeting, seen as a Blairite and with close links to disgraced former British ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, resigned as health secretary last week to pursue his ambition of replacing the prime minister.
Mr Burnham is bidding to be the Labour candidate in the Makerfield by-election, after the sitting Labour MP Josh Simons resigned to pave the way for Mr Burnham to take over the seat and mount his own Labour leadership challenge.
Sir Keir faced calls to resign from nearly 100 Labour MPs after the party sustained huge losses to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the local elections this month.
However, the prime minister has refused to step down so far, and allies insist he will not set out a timetable for his departure from No 10. Many Labour MPs believe he will be forced to do so if Mr Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election, but could attempt to cling on if Mr Burnham is defeated.
The latest spat between Mr Burnham and Mr Streeting follows the publication of a survey of Labour Party members, which indicates Mr Burnham would trounce Mr Streeting by 80 per cent to 20 per cent in a leadership contest.
A new YouGov poll also suggests Mr Burnham would defeat Sir Keir by 59 per cent to 37 per cent. Mr Burnham has performed two policy somersaults in recent days.
After stating previously that he believed the UK should eventually rejoin the EU, he said he had no intention of reopening the question of Britain’s membership of the EU if he became prime minister.
He declared he respected the result of the 2016 referendum and did not want to get stuck in a “permanent rut” of disputes about the matter. His comments came after Mr Streeting said he hoped Brexit would be reversed.
His intervention prompted claims from Mr Burnham’s supporters that it was a deliberate attempt to “sabotage” his hopes of winning the forthcoming Makerfield by-election by reopening the Brexit conflict.
The constituency is seen as a strong Brexit-supporting area. In another significant shift, Mr Burnham has announced he would abide by the government’s fiscal rules, not borrow to pay for day-to-day spending, after having earlier suggested additional defence spending could be funded by extra borrowing.
He was criticised for saying governments had to “get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets”. Uncertainty caused by the Labour leadership contest, allied to concerns about Mr Burnham’s economic policies, caused a spike in the cost of government debt in recent days.
He is in favour of restoring water, transport and social housing back to public control, and to rent controls, in order to curb the rise in the cost of living.
Mr Burnham’s allies say his record as mayor of Manchester, regarded as one of Britain’s most successful cities economically in recent years, shows his policies are practical and could work on a national scale.
