Andy Burnham has been pictured in public today with speculation intensifying that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could quit Number 10 in a matter of hours. It comes with the number of Labour MPs calling for Sir Keir to go topping 100 since Mr Burnham won the Makerfield by-election last week.

The newly elected MP was seen on Sunday (June 21) driving around Cheshire and taking a casual stroll, just three days after storming to victory with 54.8% of the vote in the by-election. This was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Josh Simons to allow Mr Burnham to return to Westminster and position himself for a potential challenge to the party leadership. Mr Burnham outperformed previous opinion polls and nearly doubled the majority his predecessor won in 2024. The pictures come just hours after it was revealed that Sir Keir’s allies believe he is preparing to step down after his support disappeared over the weekend.

According to a senior government figure, the Prime Minister has begun to realise the “game is up”. His thoughts have now turned to how he could “shore up his legacy,” they told The Telegraph.

One Labour MP – who is usually considered to be a Starmer loyalist – said he believed Sir Keir would announce his departure date as soon as Monday, given that his support among MPs was now down to only a handful of “friends and family”.

“There’s no one left. Literally people whose relatives work in No 10 or people who are long-term personal friends of Keir’s are pretty much the only ones left,” they said, comparing the act of trying to fight Mr Burnham’s path to Downing Street to “trying to fight gravity”.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves remains one of the few senior Cabinet figures still publicly backing the Prime Minister as speculation intensifies over his future.

Sir Keir is understood to be spending the weekend with his family as he weighs up whether he has enough support to continue.

It was also revealed that the Prime Minister spent Friday frantically phoning senior Cabinet ministers amid growing calls for him to step aside.

“He was reaching out to people who perhaps two months ago he thought were locked in but could now potentially be wavering,” another Government source told The Telegraph.

“More Cabinet ministers than not told him that he needs to set out a timetable,” a source told the newspaper, including Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, while Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, and even old friend Ed Miliband have previously told him to go.

Mr Burnham was said to have the support of close to 300 MPs and Sir Keir is being urged by his Cabinet and MPs – including previous loyalists – to set out a timetable for his departure rather than fight a leadership contest.