Burnham: I’ll involve Corbyn in rebuilding the party

Andy Burnham will today promise to use the “best ideas” of his leadership rivals to shape his vision for Labour if he is elected on September 12th. In a speech at Manchester’s People’s History Museum, Burnham will praise the “energy” Jeremy Corbyn has brought to the contest, and pledges to involve him in the task of “rebuilding the party”.

The Shadow Health Secretary plans to emphasise the need for unity once the leadership contest is over in order to “take the fight to the Tories”. He will say:

“Jeremy has brought energy to this race. I want to capture that and involve Jeremy and his team in rebuilding our party from the bottom up. I want to show how I can take the best ideas of the other candidates, where there is common ground between us, and use them to shape my radical vision. In that way, we will come out of this contest as a strong and united team ready to take the fight to the Tories.”

In an apparent reference to the occasional intemperate nature of the race, Burnham warns that Labour “can’t carry on as we are” and says the party is “crying out for a big vision it can get behind”. “Two candidates have put forward their visions and the Party now must decide which way it wants to go,” he will add.

Burnham also plans to highlight his loyalty to the Labour whip over the years, in stark contrast to Jeremy Corbyn, who was the most rebellious Labour MP in the three parliaments between 1997 and 2010. “I have always been loyal to the Labour Party throughout my time in politics and have never been a factional politician,” Burnham will say, “and because of that I can turn round to the entire Labour Party and be able to command its loyalty as Leader.

He will finish by setting out a “clear choice” for the future of the party:

“The choice is now clear. There are two visions for our Party but only one who can unite it. I will be the Leader who unites the Party and wins for Labour in 2020.”

However, rival Yvette Cooper made a coded jibe at Burnham on the Today programme this morning, warning that Labour cannot “swerve all over the place – because we will crash and we will lose in 2020”.