Badenoch said Burnham seemed “like a nice guy” yet ridiculed the Prime Minister’s early flurry of policy announcements.

After taking power, Andy Burnham purged Keir Starmer’s loyalists from cabinet and rewarded his left-wing backers, as the pound slipped and gilt yields rose.

Burnham's "bold ambition" is his promise to remake Britain's economy, which is constrained by weak growth, high debt and political turmoil.