There are so many hopes invested in Andy Burnham’s premiership that disappointment is inevitable. In some cases, it is also desirable. The member for Makerfield has been co-opted by Labour’s soft left and communitarian right for their respective agendas. To govern will be to choose. But a particularly poisoned chalice has been proffered to the

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

Anne McElvoy: He has himself joked to friends about how he would fare dealing with the president