Josh Simons MP denied reports he decided to give his seat up for Andy Burnham a year ago.
He told the BBC: “That’s not quite what the report says. It says I had a pint with Andy Burnham and we talked about politics, which is absolutely true.”
Simons said he made the decision “two days ago”, after discussing it with his wife.
He said: “For me, it wasn’t about… people always ask (about) cutting deals, are you going to run for mayor, are you going to be in the Lords? No, no, no.
“It was about, ‘what does Andy think that he’s going to do to the Labour party and to the country if he wins this by-election?’, and that’s what matters.”
