𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham is a man who likes to run. He famously enjoys a sprint in the early mornings wearing shorts. But he also enjoys running to be the country’s next Prime Minister and running away from media scrutiny.

The so-called King of the North wore his “Manchester” outfit during a major speech in the northern UK city. This consisted of a T-shirt under a jacket. No suit and tie in sight, of course. That’s the Westminster look.

But his big political moment, the first since winning the crunch Makerfield by-election which triggered Sir Keir Starmer’s political moment, left me and others in the room with more questions than answers.

Does he want to see drilling in the North Sea? Will he stick to Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules? Does he even know what those rules are? Will he keep Sir Keir’s red lines on Brexit? What is his definition of a woman? Who will be in his Cabinet?

Britons tuning into the TV to watch the keynote on Monday morning, as well as those in the room, do not have a clearer picture of the man who is set to be the UK’s Prime Minister in exactly three weeks if no one else challenges him for the Labour leadership.

I was banished to a balcony overlooking the room inside the People’s History Museum, making asking any questions virtually impossible. Political Editors were ushered into the space and offered a seat but that did not grant them a question either. I eventually snuck away from the balcony and joined others on the ground floor but the two-tier seating arrangement is just a hint at the chaos inside camp Burnham – who are scrambling to pull together a No 10 operation and a Labour leadership campaign.

Mr Burnham cracked jokes throughout his speedy 20 minute remarks which gained constant chuckles in the room. He said he would lead a decade-long plan to transform Britain by transferring power out of Whitehall and giving regions the ability to control essential utilities, transport and housing.

He also laid out his plan for a “No 10 North” which he said would be the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”.

There was a lot of talk about “hope” and “change”, two words which will be very familiar to those who followed Sir Keir along the 2024 general election campaign trail two years ago.

In 21 days, Mr Burnham could hold the keys to No10 and he would have no mandate to do anything he eventually does from the heart of Government.

The former mayor returned to the museum in Manchester which holds the jacket from a viral 2020 video which led to him becoming “King of the North”.

In a defiant press conference, wearing a navy workers’ utility jacket, he railed against Westminster for treating northern communities as “sacrificial lambs” during Tier three Covid restrictions.

And now, he has taken aim at Whitehall once again but this time, it seems he will be at the helm of the ship to change the course of its future forever.