Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Andy Burnham could have a way back into parliament after the MP for Makerfield, Josh Simons, announced he would be stepping down to make way for the mayor of Greater Manchester. This is not the first time this year that Burnham has set his sites on a return to Westminster. In January, he put himself forward to run as the Labour candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election but was blocked from standing by the officer’s group on the party’s National Executive Committee (a committee which includes Keir Starmer). But four months on, the situation has changed. The government has been plunged into a leadership crisis. Almost 100 MPs have called on Starmer to resign, including four junior ministers, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting has quit the cabinet. A number of MPs, even members of his own cabinet, have urged Starmer to allow Burnham to stand. The Prime Minister’s authority is far weaker than it was in January.…