Labor MP Lisa Nandy has called “absolute nonsense” claims that Sir Keir Starmer is making plans to find out who will succeed him as leader of the party should he be forced to quit.

The shadow leveling secretary, who ran for leadership in 2020, said she had had ‘no succession talks’ with the Labor leader as it was reported he had met shadow cabinet members to discuss the plans.

Sir Keir repeatedly insisted no lockdown rules were broken when he had beer and a curry with staff after a day of campaigning ahead of the 2021 local elections, and is currently awaiting the outcome of a Durham Police investigation into the incident. .

But the Labor leader and his deputy, Angela Rayner, who called on Boris Johnson to step down as Prime Minister following anti-lockdown parties at No 10, both made clear they would quit if they came with a fixed penalty notice.

On Friday, a Labor spokesman confirmed that Sir Keir and Ms Rayner had returned questionnaires to Durham Constabulary.

Meanwhile, according to The Sunday TimesSir Keir began making contingency plans in case he was fined, and met ambitious members of the shadow cabinet to urge them to set up campaign teams.

The newspaper said he had told friends: “I will not let this party become a hopeless case again. I won’t let our hard-earned gains go to waste, so we’ll have to be prepared in the unlikely event that the worst comes to the worst.

A Labor leadership source disputed the claims, telling The Independent“We are confident that Keir and Angela did not break any rules, and that will be proven.

“The only planning we are doing is for Keir and Angela to lead the party into government in the next general election.”

Asked about the reports and whether Sir Keir had any conversations with her about it, Ms Nandy told Sky News Sophy Ridge Sunday program: “This is absolute nonsense.

“No, he hasn’t, and I’ve spoken to him twice in the past few days about how we persuade this government to lift a finger to avert a railway crisis, and how of which we can [reverse] the huge cuts in local government funding.

She added: “No, I’m not afraid he’s spoken to anyone about succession planning because I know he’s spoken to all of us about how we rid this country of a government that has held us back for the past 12 years.”

Pressed again on the BBC Sunday Policy As to whether she had been involved in any succession planning with the Labor leader, Ms Nandy repeated that it was ‘absolute nonsense’ and said she had had ‘no conversation with Keir Starmer at the subject of succession”.

The remarks came as former Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested Sir Keir should ‘ignore’ anonymous reports in the media this week from shadow cabinet ministers that he was ‘boring voters to death’.

Mr Brown said the Labor leader would make a ‘great Prime Minister’, adding: ‘What is exciting about the possibility of leadership from Keir Starmer is that he will have a plan for Britain.

“It will show how we can regain growth. It will show how we can raise living standards, and it will show how we can have a fairer society that deals with issues like climate change.