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Douglas Alexander, a close ally of Starmer and the co-chair of Scottish Labour’s Holyrood election campaign , told BBC Radio 4 that he supported the Prime Minister’s decision and believed it was “what's best collectively”.
Labour has been plunged into civil war over Burnham’s bid to stand in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election, triggered after the resignation from Westminster of former Labour minister Andrew Gwynne.
On Sunday, a subcommittee of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – including Starmer and some of his key allies – voted to block Burnham from standing.
Labour MPs have since lined up to either criticise or back the decision. Labour MP Karl Turner said it had been a “catastrophic mistake” for the Prime Minister to get directly involved in blocking Burnham – while Environment Secretary Steve Reed, a close ally of Starmer, said that "inconveniencing two million plus voters across Greater Manchester” with a new mayoral election would have been the wrong choice.
However, speaking to BBC Radio 4, Labour MP Nadia Whittome dismissed that argument, saying: “Let's be honest, that's not the reason that he was blocked.”
Whittome accused Starmer of “putting petty factional manoeuvring and settling personal scores above winning elections”.
“Only 8% of people in Greater Manchester polled agree with the decision to block Andy Burnham,” she added.
However, Starmer has found support from Scottish Labour loyalists.
Dunfermline and Dollar MP Graeme Downie said he believed the decision to block Burnham was “correct”, and would allow Labour to focus on fighting local and devolved elections in May.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Scottish Secretary Alexander also defended the Prime Minister.
He was asked: “What first attracted Keir Starmer to the idea of blocking the more popular, more charismatic Andy Burnham from returning to Parliament and challenging him in a leadership election?”
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Alexander said that the NEC had opted to avoid a rerun election for Manchester mayor which would have been “the size of 20 parliamentary by-elections happening at once”.
He said there was a “risk that the contest would absorb time, energy, and money when we absolutely need to be focused on a series of opponents who literally want to tear our country apart”.
Alexander insisted there was “no contradiction” in his claim that Labour had a rule which prevented Burnham from standing, and the Prime Minister attending a meeting on Sunday to vote to block Burnham from standing.
He also told the BBC that Starmer having previously said that Labour should “end any imposition” of candidates on party members was “not the gotcha question you think it is”.
Alexander went on: “We exist as a Labour Party, not for what's best for an individual, but what's best collectively.
“And the coming months should be about confronting the forces in British politics that want to tear our country apart and offer and instead a vision of the Labour Party future, which is about us pulling together.
“So, of course there is politics involved in the judgement that the National Executive Committee makes, because frankly, we have the fight of our lives on our hands.”
He added: “If the Labour Party had decided to engage in a psycho-drama over the coming weeks about who's in, who's out, who's up, who's down in Westminster, instead of directing our fire and training our sights on Reform, on the Greens, on the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.
“We have the electoral fight of our lives on our hands. We have to throw every effort at our external opponents.
“And I think that helps explain the basis on which the officers reached the decision yesterday.”
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Formerly a Labour safe seat, the Gorton and Denton by-election is now being eyed by both the Greens and Reform UK as a potential victory.
Elsewhere on Monday, Starmer also defended his own decision to prevent Burnham from standing in the by-election.
Echoing the same lines which were used by ALexander, the Prime Minister said: “We have really important elections already across England for local councils, very important elections in Wales for the government there, and very important elections in Scotland for the Scottish government that will affect millions of people.
“And we’re out campaigning on the cost of living, and they’re very important elections. We need all of our focus on those elections.”
“Andy Burnham’s doing a great job as the mayor of Manchester, but having an election for the mayor of Manchester when it’s not necessary would divert our resources away from the elections that we must have, that we must fight and win, and resources, whether that’s money or people, need to be focused on the elections that we must have, not elections that we don’t have to have.
“And that was the basis of the NEC decision.”
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