The New Statesman.

Andrew Gwynn, MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester, has agreed a pension deal with Parliament.

Why is this guy's retirement plan headline news? Because it opens up the path for another Andrew,

King of the North and Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham to return to

Westminster. I'm Anusha Kellyan and joining me to discuss this is our political editor Alva Ray. Hello,

Alva. Hello. Yet again, we're talking about Andy Burnham today. But we should, I think,

give our readers and our listeners some context about Andrew Gwyn and why there's so much speculation

about his retirement. So you've stood up some reporting that he's reached an agreement on medical

grounds with the House of Commons to allow him to draw his pension early, retiring early as an

MP on medical grounds. I've WhatsApped him. I haven't had a reply. So I can't really speak for what he's

going through at the moment, but he's been off sick from Parliament. And I interviewed him a while back

about his long COVID symptoms. And I remember ringing him once and he was just really breathless

on the phone after just walking across Vauxhall Bridge from his South London flat, you know,

south of the river over to his office in Westminster.

So he's really been suffering those symptoms for a while. I don't know whether that's the context

for exactly what he's decided now. But in the meantime, he was sacked as a health minister last

year and lost the Labour whip because of offensive messages that he'd sent in a WhatsApp group

about constituents.

And so here is a Labour MP, lost the Whippers a Labour MP, suffering from poor health as well.

So kind of a natural person in Greater Manchester to stand aside for Andy Burnham to then run in a by-election in his seat.

And we should say before we get into it,

by the time people listen to this, Andrew Gwyn might have resigned as an MP. Yes, that's true.

...