Andy Burnham confirms he will run for Labour leadership if he wins by-election

Labour's Andy Burnham finally admitted UK politics' worst-kept secret tonight as he confirmed he would run to become prime minister if he won the Makerfield by-election.The Greater Manchester mayor has previously heavily hinted but ducked out of confirming he would stand against Sir Keir Starmer if he wins a Westminster seat on June 18.This afternoon he told the Guardian he was '100 per cent' focused on the by-election battle, seen as a straight fight between him and Reform's Robert Kenyon, and branded speculation about how he would run the country as 'weird'.But he also went on to outline how he would bring more left-wingers into his cabinet and prioritise sorting out the creaking social care system.Then tonight, in a by-election special edition of the BBC's Question Time in the Greater Manchester seat he confirmed that he would go for the top job if he won, while making 'no assumptions' about the by-election result.