Mark Paul

The guy who most people in the Labour Party think is best placed to replace Keir Starmer.

But of course, he's not an MP at the moment.

And if Catherine West gets enough MPs to start a leadership contest before Andy Burnham gets a chance to get back to Parliament...

And well, then, you know, that whole thing will play out without him even being on the pitch.

So that could help some of Andy Burnham's rivals.

So there is a big backroom operation that has just swung into being last night and today to try and get Catherine West to stop this.

And ironically, Andy Burnham's allies and also Keir Starmer's allies are kind of on the same page of this.

Like a lead balloon, I'd say.

I think that actually angered a lot of MPs.

I mean, whatever it was that the voters of Gateshead and Sunderland and Essex and Hastings and everywhere else said, it wasn't bring back Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.

And I think there's been another significant intervention, probably in about the last 90 minutes or so.

I don't know if you notice it, but a guy called Josh Simons, another MP, has intervened to say that Keir Starmer should step aside.

Now, that's significant because he's an ally of Keir Starmer and he ran Labour Together, which is a think tank organisation.

that used to be run by Morgan McSweeney, actually, the think tank that created Keir Starmer as leader.

And for Josh Simons, the former leader of that think tank to come out this morning and say Keir Starmer needs to go, that's one of Keir Starmer's loyalists.

That's a significant intervention.

That doesn't mean Starmer will go.

He's out in the papers this morning saying he's going to stay for another decade.

But look, more power to his optimism.

If I was a betting man, I think he'll probably survive the next few weeks, but he might go at some stage in the summer.