During the last Labour leadership contest Andy Burnham ruled out running for a third time, telling PoliticsHome<\/em> that he wouldn’t be standing again.<\/p>\n Yet in an interview with Liverpool Echo\u00a0<\/em>the shadow home secretary seemed to leave space for another go. When asked whether he would run again he said<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cI always thought not. I\u2019ve tried twice and I think there\u2019s a limit to how many times you can stand. I have the feeling that if it was to be my time it would have been this one. But you don\u2019t know what the future brings.<\/strong> I\u2019ve always said I will always serve the party in any way I can but I don\u2019t expect to [run again].\u201d<\/p>\n This kind of language seems to echo that of the Tory Boris Johnson, who when asked about the party leadership said that \u201cif the ball came loose from the back of the scrum, which it won’t of course, it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham has previously said he \u201cdefinitely\u201d won’t be standing again, but perhaps he hopes that when Labour needs a new leader he might be called on in the manner of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus<\/a>, a Roman dictator who only took power when called upon by the empire.<\/p>\n