𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

After that, we haven’t got a clue what’s on his mind. Or what sort of prime minister he’d make. Or how he’d do things differently to the hopeless case currently in Number 10. And that’s exactly how Andy Burnham likes it. He seems determined to smuggle himself into Downing Street without anybody properly scrutinising him. Now who does that remind me of? The very man he’s trying to replace. Sir Keir Starmer.

During the 2024 election, Starmer adopted the so-called “Ming vase strategy”, originally tested by Tony Blair. Tiptoe carefully into power without saying anything alarming or daft, that might cause him to drop the vase. That’s why Starmer never told voters he planned to hammer us with £75billion of taxes, open the spending floodgates, scrap the winter fuel payment and unleash Ed Miliband. It worked. He even gave us the impression that Rachel Reeves knew what she was doing. I imagine that was the toughest bit.

If Starmer had levelled with voters, Labour’s electoral vase would have shattered into a thousand pieces. Burnham is trying exactly the same trick today. He might as well have carried a Ming vase onto Question Time last night and placed it lovingly on the table in front of him.

Burnham’s performance made one thing obvious. He reckons he’s nailed on to win the upcoming Makerfield by-election, provided he avoids saying anything remotely controversial on hot topics like tax, pensioners, benefits and migrants. We can expect that strategy to hold right up until the day he walks into Number 10. Which is when we will discover the terrifying truth about what he has in store for us. In other words, he’ll do exactly the same as Keir Starmer.

Like Starmer, Burnham will say whatever suits thim at he moment, then flip-flops the second it becomes politically inconvenient. The U-turns are already piling up. I can only spot one obvious difference. Burnham has more personality. He talks easily and fluently, whereas Starmer’s stilted appearances increasingly resemble a hostage video.

But Andy Burnham isn’t the messiah. He’s just a chatty Keir Starmer in a black T-shirt. And his policies could be even more destructive. If you can imagine that.

Burnham has refused to even speak to the Daily Express, worried we might ask him a probing question or two. He’s just pulled out of a meeting with hedge fund managers, fearing expert scrutiny of his economic plans. He doesn’t want anyone to know what he’s up to here. Burnham is making soothing noises about sticking to Labour manifesto pledges on income tax, National Insurance and VAT. But so did Starmer and Reeves. Until they got into government.

Burnham spoke more freely back in the day, and what he came up with is terrifying. He’s called for a massive raid on land and property, higher taxes on top earners and an explosion in inheritance tax. Now he’s suddenly reluctant to discuss any of it.

Instead, he presents himself as a decent chap from the North. Yet the more he speaks, the more he resembles the non-event already in Number 10. The truth is, we won’t have a clue what Burnham would actually, until he’s in power. And the fact that he won’t tell us is frightening. My bet is he’ll be no better than Starmer. Taxpayers may discover he’s considerably worse.