ANDY BURNHAM accused Labour figures again today of “lying” about him to the media, as the row over his thwarted bid to re-enter Westminster rumbles on.

The Greater Manchester mayor, who was blocked by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, criticised anonymous briefings against him and said there were some figures who “think they can just lie.”

He also told the BBC that he would have been best placed to see off the threat of Reform in the forthcoming contest. 

“I believed I was probably in a better position than anybody to fight back against that,” he said.

Mr Burnham added that, had he been allowed to stand, it would have “created a more positive path for everybody, including the Prime Minister, including the government.”

His rejection had been “hard to take,” he said, although he accepted the party’s decision, which means he will not be available to stand in any leadership election to succeed the floundering PM in the foreseeable future.

He stressed he was not seeking to “undermine” the government, as Sir Keir’s aides have alleged, but warned that “anybody paid by the public purse does not get licence to lie.

“And why do they do it? You’re asking me – they do it to denigrate the character, impugn the integrity of elected politicians,” he added, also citing recent Downing Street briefings against Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The mayor has previously complained that the media were told of the national executive’s rejection of his application to stand before he was told himself, representing problems with Labour’s culture, and called out “lies” alleging he had been warned beforehand that he would be turned down.

Mr Burnham said he was not blaming “anybody at the top of the government, and certainly not the Prime Minister” for these false briefings. He said he’d had a good conversation with Sir Keir on Monday on the subject.

The controversy has overshadowed Labour’s fight to retain the seat, for which Reform has put forward far-right Muslim-baiter Matthew Goodwin.

The Greens are positioning themselves as the main alternative to Reform in the seat, as are Labour, whose first campaign video was an attack on the Greens, rather than the hard-right party.