25 August 2015updated 27 Aug 2015 6:26am

Andy Burnham: Labour should have a woman leader “when the time is right”

The one-time frontrunner for the Labour leadership tripped over his mouth again.

(Photo By The shadow health secretary is right. Photo: Getty)

Andy Burnham was asked by a Radio 5Live hustings if it would be good for Labour to have a woman leader. “When the time is right,” the Leigh MP responded. (Presumably, when Andy Burnham isn’t running to lead the Labour party.) Liz Kendall, one of his rivals, urged him to support a woman leader, jokingly offering him the post of deputy.

Diana Johnson, MP for Hull North and a supporter of Yvette Cooper, blasted the remarks. “What on earth does Andy mean by saying he’d support a woman leader ‘when the time is right’?” Johnson asked, “Is he suggesting that even now – in 2015 – the Labour Party is not ready for a woman leader?” “The big question to Andy,” she added, “Is if ‘not now, then when?”