Back in September 2012, I took Andy Burnham on a parliamentary delegation to the West Bank. It was his first proper visit there. Like most politicians on their first such trip, he was visibly shocked. By the middle of the first day, Burnham turned to me and said: “Chris, I have always been told that we support a two-state solution and I do.

Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester, is expected to set out his economic agenda on Monday in his first major speech since announcing he would stand for the Labour…

For now, Andy Burnham is the most popular man in Westminster. But how long he can hold onto that title depends on what he does next as the political reality sets in