Gary Neville 'considering Manchester mayoral campaign' after joining Labour party

Premier League winning defender Gary Neville has reportedly joined the Labour party, and is considering running as Labour’s candidate for Greater Manchester mayor in 2024.

According to Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell, the two have discussed the potential for the Manchester United legend to run on a number of occasions.

In a tweet, the MP said: “Very pleased @GNev2 has finally joined Labour. It’s something he and I have been discussing for a while. Personally think he’s more than capable of navigating (well, steaming) his way through the world of politics!”

The former footballer, who spent his entire playing career in the red half of Manchester, has been a vocal critic of Boris Johnson and the government, even joking that Downing Street should be renamed Hacienda after the legendary north-west nightclub.

He’s also suggested have tried to use distraction tactics in order to divert the public’s attention away from the recent Downing Street party scandal.

After Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that self-isolation would be reduced from seven days to five, Mr Neville tweeted: “We need a headline, QUICK!!!!”

In an interview with the BBC, the pundit said he’d “get eaten alive” if he gave politics a real go.

"I say to myself sometimes I'm able to communicate, I know what I want, I have got a business mind, I can manage people in respect of businesses.

"But I just think I'd get eaten alive. I don't know what Whitehall is like, Westminster is like.

"I can only imagine what you have to do there to survive and I don't play the game, so how can I get in?

"So when I ask myself the question do you want to dip your toes in, I can't dip my toes in because I'm all or nothing. I go in and I'm going in."

In the same interview with Nick Robinson, he said he would be “more quiet if this current regime that’s in left.

"They're very damaging to the standards that we have in this country and around the world."