In a matter of weeks, the man who has held prime ministerial ambitions for years will walk into Downing Street. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is set to become the next prime minister, his path cleared by the spectacular unravelling of Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
On Monday, Starmer stood at the lectern in Downing Street and publicly read the last rites on his time in office. He was not brought down by scandal like Boris Johnson nor economic calamity like Liz Truss, but by the same fate: a loss of the capacity to viably govern. His own MPs lost faith in him.
“Andy Burnham, set to become PM in three weeks, promises 'No. 10 North' rebalancing power after Starmer's downfall.”
The cancellations and U-turns had mounted rapidly. Within weeks of Labour’s general election win two years ago, the winter fuel payment was scrapped for many pensioners – later reversed. Then came the row over freebies dubbed “passes for glasses”, and the briefing war that pushed out Starmer’s first chief of staff, Sue Gray. A humiliating climbdown on planned benefits changes a year ago made Labour MPs realise they could push the government around. The rollling saga of Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Washington ambassador – he was sacked in September – dogged Starmer for months. Two key aides, Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan, resigned.
Into this vacuum steps Burnham, a politician who “revels in being on the public stage”, comfortable ad-libbing and setting out his vision with passion. “A leader with politics and vision. Quite something,” one Labour MP told the BBC, the comparison with Starmer implicit. Starmer once said “there is no such thing as Starmerism”, a line Burnham would never utter.
Burnham’s own critics have noted his shifting positions on the Waspi women campaign, borrowing rules and trans rights. But his time as mayor allowed him to road-test an outlook centred on devolution. Two years ago he co-authored a book with Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram, ‘Head North’. Now he promises “the biggest rebalancing of power” the country has seen, with a new “No. 10 North” in Manchester that would push power away from Westminster. In his first major speech since becoming prime minister-in-waiting, he insisted he would not take risks with the public finances.
He will take office in three weeks. The question, as one observer put it, is whether his vision is anywhere near enough to make a success of governing.