Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester council has ruled himself out of standing as Labour candidate for Manchester mayor and made a series of veiled criticisms of contenders Tony Lloyd and Ivan Lewis.

Sir Richard, 64, ended months of speculation by saying the “ideal candidate” would be a woman aged 20 years younger than him.

He said he saw the mayoralty as “a step backwards, a step down even” and described the need for a person with “freshness and originality” to take the role, which has been agree as part of George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse devolution settlement.

He also appears to have made a series of pointed remarks about Lloyd and Lewis, which were reported on Twitter by a BBC correspondent.

Lloyd “lacks the vision, drive and leadership to fulfil the role”, wrote Leese in an email to his colleagues, according to the BBC. Lloyd, the Police and Crime Commissioner, is already serving as interim mayor before the election.

Leese also reportedly said of Lewis, MP for Bury South: “I would take some convincing that 20 years in Parliament is adequate preparation for this position.”

In his blog entitled “personal choices”, Leese wrote: “My ideal candidate would be twenty years younger and a different gender”.

“This seems to be a perfect time to move on from those of us that got us to this position and to have a Mayor who can bring freshness and originality to the post without being tied down by the past. I hope we see a range of potential candidates that reflect the wonderful diversity of our city”.

Leese announced yesterday he had no intention to run, adding: “There is much of the Mayor’s job that doesn’t particularly appeal to me, in particular the ambassadorial role. This is obviously something I do now, but I it will be a far greater part of the Mayor’s role and frankly I’d rather be having a pint in the Cleveland [bar] than selling Manchester to investment funds in some anonymous international hotel.”

The mayoral position is the outcome of the 2014 devolution agreement for the city, which will give the mayor new powers over transport, health, social care and will merge the role with the PCC. Labour’s candidate selection timetable is still unconfirmed, but the election will be in 2017.