𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

In just six days time, Andy Burnham will be prime minister. He has been an MP less than a month, albeit having previously been in the Commons and the Cabinet a decade earlier.

But since his dramatic comeback, when winning last month’s Makerfield by-election, he has avoided direct scrutiny, making speeches without inviting questions, making social media videos, writing articles and a behind-closed-doors hustings with Labour MPs. Behind the scenes he has been putting together a new administration whose personnel, or at least their portfolios, remain a mystery.

On Thursday, Parliament goes into recess for the summer, meaning Burnham will not face any democratic accountability until MPs return in September.

Now Labour have discarded Conservative demands for a vote to force him to come to Parliament to answer questions when he becomes Prime Minister on Monday.

Kemi Badenoch branded the move “unprecedented” and accused Labour of “running scared”.

“They know the honeymoon will be over the minute he has to tell us his plans,” she fumed.

The so-called ‘King of the North’ will, however, make an appearance in the Chamber on Tuesday evening, speaking about the government’s new Hillsborough Law which is set to clear the Commons.

Burnham has already received the endorsement of more Labour MPs than is necessary to secure a majority in the House.

He will become party leader on Friday. His coup will be completed when he moves into No 10 on Monday.

But why is he dodging scrutiny, what does he have to hide?

The former Blair-era MP has plenty of questions to answer, not least on how he plans to run the economy, is he planning a tax blitz, how will he boost defence spending and what really does this ardent remainer want to do with our relationship with the EU.

The British public deserve to know the answers to these and many other questions about what Burnham has in store for the country.

It’s the least he can do, especially no-one voted for him to become Prime Minister.