The member of the NEC told The Telegraph: ‘It’s a move to bring the mayors to heel. That’s concerning because they’re some of the most popular figures in the Labour party.

‘Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham are threats to Keir Starmer, who doesn’t have a great approval rating. Ulez and Gaza were huge issues. Mayors were much more outspoken than the front bench would have liked them to be.’

In 2023, Khan and Starmer had a public spat over the expansion of the London Mayor’s Ulez scheme.

And when Labour came under scrutiny over calls for a ceasefire in Gaza last year, Khan launched a direct challenge to Sir Keir.

The London mayor became the most high profile figure to back calls for a complete break in fighting between Israel and Hamas that has claimed thousands of lives since the Palestinian terrorists’ brutal raid.

Sir Keir called for a ‘humanitarian pause’ in fighting but also backed Israeli’s right to defend itself and retrieve hostages taken by Hamas.

It sparked a full-scale Labour battle, with a quarter of his MPs joining Khan in calling for an end to fighting to let aid into the besieged enclave.

In a video, the London mayor said: ‘Thousands of innocent civilians have already been killed in Israel and Gaza. With the humanitarian crisis set to deteriorate even further, I’m calling for a ceasefire.’

Khan and Starmer have had public spats over the expansion of the London Mayor’s Ulez scheme, Gaza and Trump

Angela Rayner’s department is preparing to roll out an expansion of regional mayors in the coming years. The rule changes approved by Labour’s NEC will ensure the new batch are subject to the leadership’s wishes, Left-wing opponents claimed

This May, Khan urged Keir Starmer to ‘call out’ Donald Trump branding him a ‘racist, sexist homophobe’.

The London Mayor risked derailing Labour’s efforts to extend an olive branch ahead of the presidential election in November, which Trump won.

Khan told Politico that the UK should not be ‘rolling out a red carpet’ for Trump – with whom he has a long-running feud.

I’m quite clear, I understand on Trump,’ the mayor said. ‘He’s a racist. He’s a sexist. He’s a homophobe. And it’s very important, particularly when you’ve got a special relationship, that you treat them as a best mate.

‘If my best mate was a racist, or a sexist or a homophobe, I’d call him out and I’d explain to him why those views are wrong.’

Khan added: ‘I worry about a Donald Trump presidency,’

‘You know, I’ve been speaking to governors from America. I’ve been speaking to mayors from America. Of course, we’ll have a relationship whoever the president is. But we shouldn’t be literally rolling out a red carpet for a state visit.

‘It’s really important that we of course, have good relations with Democrats and Republicans. But I lost count of the amount of Republicans I’ve spoken to who are also worried about a Trump presidency.’

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at a reception during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool

Andy Burnham leaves following his roundtable meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Khan also taunted Mr Trump about his own election victory, when he trounced Tory rival Susan Hall to get a third term.

The mayor said: ‘Listen, I’ve got more latitude as a mayor to just to say what I feel about Trump, and I make this point. He called me a ‘stone cold loser’. I’ve won three. How many has he won?’

Angela Rayner’s department is preparing to roll out an expansion of regional mayors in the coming years.

The rule changes approved by Labour’s NEC will ensure the new batch are subject to the leadership’s wishes, Left-wing opponents claimed.

It comes as the Labour Left is in revolt over what it regards as a ‘political hit job’ on former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh by allies of Sir Keir.

The anger over extraordinary claims that No 10 briefed the media to force Ms Haigh’s resignation threatens to overshadow the Prime Minister’s ‘relaunch’ of his Government this week.

Ms Haigh resigned from the Cabinet last week when it emerged that she had pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago.

She told police in 2013 that she had lost her work mobile phone in a mugging, only for it to emerge later that the device had not been taken.

In a new twist last night, Sky News reported that police officers who investigated Ms Haigh’s ‘stolen’ phone believed a photo she submitted of the handset had been taken after the alleged theft.

Sources close to Ms Haigh denied that a photo was submitted. It came as her supporters made the extraordinary claim that allies of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s Chief of Staff, tried to ‘take out’ Ms Haigh during the General Election by using a secret backchannel to the Tory campaign to brief them about the conviction – but they couldn’t track it down in court records.

Supporters claim that after Labour won the election allies of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s Chief of Staff, found out more about the offence and when Ms Haigh annoyed the leadership by pushing a Left-wing agenda, they briefed it to force her out

Pictured: Ms Haigh’s letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer

The supporters claim that after Labour won the election McSweeney allies found out more about the offence and, when Ms Haigh annoyed the leadership by pushing a Left-wing agenda, they briefed it to force her out.

The claims are strongly denied by Mr McSweeney.

However, Ms Haigh’s allies believe she became vulnerable after former Chief of Staff Sue Gray was ousted from No 10 in the autumn amid a power struggle with Mr McSweeney.

Ms Gray’s son, new-entry Labour MP Liam Conlon, was appointed as Ms Haigh’s parliamentary private secretary immediately after the election.

Last night, friends of Ms Haigh accused the PM of ‘looking weak’ by not standing by her.

They insisted she had had no intention of quitting on Thursday night until Mr McSweeney told her she had to go – with Sir Keir agreeing that she should resign.

That came as a ‘big shock’, one friend said, because Ms Haigh had given Sir Keir full details of her conviction when he appointed her to his Shadow Cabinet in 2020.

‘It’s made Sir Keir look very weak,’ the ally added.

However, this has been contradicted by No 10 sources, who claimed last week that ‘more information had since come to light’.