For his Labour critics, Andy Burnham is just Keir Starmer in a black T-shirt. They mutter that the new MP for Makerfield lacks substance and would be quickly found out as PM.
Burnham can enjoy the glow of victory. But the closer he gets to the tough choices of real power, the more the shine will start to fade
That critique overlooks at least one major difference between Burnham and Starmer, which is about policy. Starmer’s problems arise in part from his failure to develop a proper policy agenda before taking office. His 2024 manifesto was very deliberately sparse, to avoid giving opponents targets to aim at during the campaign. Despite the hopes of many colleagues, there was no secret plan locked away in Sue Gray’s safe. The result was a government drifting from day one.
If anything, Burnham has the opposite problem. He is awash with policies, or more accurately, ideas, hints and signals for policies. Over nearly a decade in the comfortable and spacious office of Mayor of Greater Manchester, he has had the time and opportunity to talk about policy a lot.
Whether or not all that talk constitutes a coherent agenda strikes me as a slightly silly question. Is there such a thing as Burnhamism? The only people who could care about that question are politicos with too much time on their hands.
