Both British Cypriot members of the House of Commons have offered their support to former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as the United Kingdom’s prime minister, according to media affiliated with the UK’s ruling Labour Party.

Website the Labour List reported that both parliamentary undersecretary of state for devolution Nesil Caliskan, who represents the London constituency of Barking, and Bambos Charalambous, who represents the Southgate and Wood Green constituency, also in London, have nominated Burnham to be the party’s next leader.

It said that in total, 322 of the Labour Party’s 403 MPs have nominated Burnham, with a minimum of 81 nominations required for a would-be candidate to be on the ballot for a leadership election.

As such, if Burnham receives one more nomination before July 16, he will automatically become party leader, and prime minister on July 20.

Burnham said late on Thursday night that he is “deeply grateful” to those who “put their trust” in him and nominated him for the party’s leadership.

Nesil Caliskan on Burnham’s campaign trail

“Their support comes from across the parliamentary Labour Party and reflects a shared belief that Britain needs a new approach to politics. That is the circuit breaker I am offering: power out of Westminster, an economy rewired for ordinary people, and good growth in every postcode,” he said.

Both Caliskan and Charalambous had initially resisted calling for Starmer to resign when almost 100 Labour MPs did so in May, when the party lost almost 1,500 councillors in the UK’s local elections and lost control of the Welsh government for the first time since the creation of the Welsh devolved authority in 1999.

In the aftermath of those elections, Caliskan was appointed to her current undersecretary role, replacing Miatta Fahnbulleh, who had resigned in an effort to urge Starmer to resign.

Charalambous, meanwhile, was one of more than 100 Labour MPs who signed a letter urging Starmer to remain in post, though at least one Labour MP whose name appeared among the signatories denied having signed it.

Shortly afterwards, Labour MP Josh Simons resigned his seat so as to trigger a by-election and allow Burnham, then Manchester mayor and the Labour Party’s most popular politician, to stand for election and become an MP.

After Burnham won that by-election by a landslide margin last month, Starmer announced his intention to step down, opening the way for Burnham to become prime minister.