Burnham hasn’t been handed a comeback - he’s been handed Makerfield, and Makerfield looks less like a doorway than a trapdoor. Right, so Josh Simons, the Labour MP for Makerfield, has just announced that he is standing down. He is resigning the seat. He is triggering a by-election. And the stated reason, the reason being briefed out, the reason being written up across the political press, is that he is doing it so that Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the man widely seen as the most serious internal threat to Keir Starmer's leadership, can come back into Parliament and run for the Labour leadership. That is the story as sold. A loyal MP, stepping aside, opening a door for a ‘returning hero’. Burnham has already confirmed he will ask Labour's National Executive Committee for permission to stand. Starmer's allies are briefing that  ...