Andy Burnham 'begged Labour MP to stand down' in bid to challenge Keir Starmer

Mr Burnham, originally from Merseyside, is claimed to have struck a deal that would elevate Ms Rimmer, who has held the seat since 2015, to the Lords if he succeeded Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister.

He attempted to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election, in which Labour shockingly came third behind the Green Party and Reform UK in what was declared their "sixth safest seat".

Mr Burnham was blocked by allies of Sir Keir on Labour’s National Executive Committee in January, voted by a margin of eight to one.

Backbenchers described the decision as “completely outrageous” and “a stitch-up”, with only one vote in favour from Lucy Powell, the party’s deputy leader, who admitted on Saturday that Labour would “probably” have won the by-election if Mr Burnham had been allowed to stand.

Standing in Ms Rimmer’s seat, his candidacy would again be voted on as it would trigger an unnecessary mayoralty contest.

However, supporters believe a new application would not be blocked since Sir Keir’s position had weakened after the by-election defeat last week.

Ms Rimmer held St Helens South and Whiston with a majority of almost 12,000 at the general election, and has held the seat since 2015.

One MP supportive of Mr Burnham said: "It is not a done deal yet, but we are hopeful. The implied offer is she would be able to end her career in the Lords if she does the decent thing".

Polling last month by YouGov found that Labour would win back a large number of voters if Mr Burnham was at the helm.

When pitched a hypothetical general election with Mr Burnham as the Labour leader, 20 per cent of respondents said they would back the party - only a hair behind the 22 per cent who said they would vote for Reform UK.

Whereas only 13 per cent said they would back Labour in it's current state with Sir Keir as leader, and only 11 per cent would back Labour if it were led by Wes Streeting.

The Mail on Sunday has also claimed Mr Burnham would consider forging an alliance with the Green Party by supporting a shift towards proportional representation, as many Labour critics call on the party to return to the left of politics.

Minor parties have long supported a move away from first past the post towards proportional representation, under which the number of parliamentary seats reflects the percentage of votes the party achieves.

Mr Burnham could make the change part of Labour’s next general election manifesto as part of a progressive alliance with the Greens.

On Sunday, Mr Burnham rejected the allegations, telling The Telegraph it was a “made-up story”.