Andy Burnham has launched a passionate 11-minute defence of his decision to try and become the Gorton and Denton MP last weekend.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, the mayor gave his first major interview since he announced he wanted to return to Parliament, only for his by-election bid to be blocked by Labour's ruling body 17 hours later.

The mayor insisted he is 'back in my position, focusing on this job' as mayor, and said he had an 'exchange' with the Prime Minister on Monday (January 26). He also revealed the affair has 'affected' his family, including his three grown-up children, and is taking time to 'reflect' on what happened.

He began his defence by saying he 'cannot control what happens'. He said: "I took calls here last week [on the Hotseat phone-in] and when I left, the world changed a little bit.

"I am in a position where what I said is what I mean. I am back in my position, focusing on this job. I could not control what happened last Thursday, and the decision it gave me and I had a lot of thinking on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

"All I can say is all of these poundshop pundits are out there with all their wisdom on what I think and my motives. I am glad to be back in the Hotseat to say through you, to the people of Greater Manchester, if it was about the limelight or undermining the government I could have done hundreds of interviews in the last week, literally hundreds. I have not because I have kept my counsel."

He then addressed accusations his by-election bid was the first move to ultimately challenge Keir Starmer for Labour leadership: "I know everyone who there is will say politics is about ambition, and okay that's part of it. But sometimes in politics it's about consolidating what you have built."

"That was a really big reason why, in the end, I decided to put my name in. What we have built here is truly special. It's built on partnership.

"In my view, the politics of Reform threaten that. They put it at risk. It's all about pitting people against each other.

"In the end, wanting to consolidate everything we have built over generations was a persuasive factor in me putting my name forward."

He went on: "I believed I was in a better position than anybody to fight back. That's why I put myself forward to them. If we had won that by-election — and we might do, I will be out campaigning for Labour — we could have pushed them back.

"I think Reform can be pushed back because they have all these Tories, they look like the worst of the Tories."

Burnham refuted suggestions he was 'naive' to think Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) would allow his candidacy, given it would mean he has to resign as mayor, triggering a Greater Manchester-wide by-election which would cost the taxpayer around £5m and take up party resources to fight.

He added: "[The NEC] has wider considerations, as did I, when I made my decision. They were clearly worried about the potential mayoral election in Greater Manchester as was I because I weighed that up.

"I thought by fighting the by-election it would have brought me closer to the government and from there I would have had momentum to have good council results and to win the mayoral election."

He later said: "I would have pointed out to them I have never had any support from the party in three mayoral elections that I fought. The Greater Manchester mayoral election has not been a great expense [to Labour]."

The mayor then clarified he spoke to senior party figures before entering the race, and said he tried to give Keir Starmer assurance Gorton and Denton would not be a launch pad for a leadership challenge.

He said: "I want this to be known as well: I spoke to senior people in the party, including the Home Secretary. We had a really great conversation.

"And I did ask to speak to the Prime Minister, because I wanted to assure him of something I put in the letter that supported my application, and it was that I wasn't coming in to undermine him or the government.

"I was coming in to see if I could contribute, because some of the things I know are holding Greater Manchester back are problems at that level."

Asked for his thoughts on a conversation he and the PM had on Monday, Mr Burnham said: "It was a fair exchange, but we both said how we felt, and I was glad to have that conversation and a chance to say how I felt.

"I would have preferred, obviously, to speak in advance to the decision to assure him of what I was trying to do. As I say, I think it could have created a more positive path for everybody, including the Prime Minister, including the government."

Burnham then took aim at briefings which suggested he was told his bid would be blocked by the NEC before he entered the race, something he said was 'simply untrue' earlier this week.

He explained: "On Tuesday, they said I would be blocked. I am not blaming anyone at the top of the government and the Prime Minister.

"There are always in politics – I saw it around Tony Blair, I saw it around Gordon Brown, I saw it around the Conservative prime ministers from the 2010s onwards – where some people just think they can say what they like to the media.

"And why do they do it? You're asking me; They do it to denigrate the character, impugn the integrity of elected politicians.

"They did it to Wes Streeting not so long ago, and it's almost like the stock in trade of Westminster.

"But the thing I would want to get over today, and I give great credit to the Prime Minister for backing the Hillsborough Law that I brought to Parliament, and obviously that brings in a duty of candour on public servants.

"Some of these people are paid by the public purse, but in my view, anybody paid by the public purse does not get license to lie, and in the aftermath of all of this, I'm not going to be bitter, and I'm going to be out there campaigning in the by-election, but I am going to call that one thing out.

Taking calls from the public, Burnham promised his 'full input and capacity' on the mayor job now the by-election saga is behind him. However, Burnham disagreed with one lifelong Labour member who phoned to tell him he'd 'put himself before the party'.

Finally, the ex-Leigh MP revealed the impact on his family: "I got door-stepped with my mum on Sunday. I got doorstepped by ITV."

He added: "I am going to take time to process everything and reflect. It's been a hard thing.

"It's been hard on my family. The Burnhams go into conclave on things like this.

"Catholic families like mine are known to all pitch in, and everyone has their say. Everyone decides together. Collectively we thought it was right.

"But it has an effect on everyone. It does affect my kids and I am going to take time to be fully focus in my job and reflect."