On the terrace of parliament, only two stories dominate this evening. The first is the end of Keir Starmer, who this lunchtime faced Prime Minister’s Questions for the final time. The second, much more exciting event, is England versus Argentina in the World Cup semi-final tonight. It was only appropriate, therefore, that Starmer’s successor, Andy Burnham, has sought to tie the two together in one of the few interviews he has given prior to entering No. 10. Since a poor performance on Newsnight during the Makerfield by-election, Burnham has sat down for only one full-length broadcast grilling – despite being about to take over the nuclear codes for a G7 country.
Tonight though, he made it two, sitting down with former England striker Gary Lineker for a gentle chat on the latter’s Goalhanger podcast series. Cue all of Westminster tuning in to hear a mix of musings about Everton, the Hillsborough law and, er, Donald Trump. Lineker, a fellow man of the soft left, coaxed few lines out of Burnham in the 19-minute exchange. His strategy for handling the American President is simple: be himself. ‘I’ll just meet him where he’s at,’ said Burnham. ‘I like to think I’ve got some personality myself and I’ll deal with him very upfront in the same way I think he likes people to deal with him.’
