Burnham will be better than Starmer but that's a low bar

He's the last bastion of hope against the far right. He wears polo shirts. It's all very exciting. So why do so many of us feel uninspired?

Burnham's road to No. 10 has been a long one, filled with victories — his coronation as King of the North — and stains against his name — his longstanding defence of the invasion of Iraq.

But he emerges through the flames a thoroughly popular man.

As a career politician, Burnham can't be considered a breath of fresh air into Westminster, but he has the good fortune of following a deluge of leaders devoid of morals and/or charisma.

In a speech just before he became the seventh British Prime Minister in ten years, he told us he's going to stop Labour's approach of trying to 'out-Reform Reform'.

Does that include not validating the immigration stances of their far-right crypto-billionaire-backed leader? Because that's what he did during the Makerfield by-election.

'I do agree with what Farage is saying' are words no one should ever say. Regardless of what it is Farage has said. Even if Farage had said 'Dogs are nice', 'Edinburgh is a bit too busy in August', or 'chippies aren't very good in London', you shouldn't align yourself with him.

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Crucially, Burnham agreed with Farage over the increased use of immigrant detention centres. A breath of fresh air!

Even if it was an attempt to curry favour with swing voters in Makerfield, we have seen how damaging meeting Farage on his own turf can be — for the country's soul and for Labour's electoral hopes.

Bróccán Tyzack-Carlin is keeping a close eye on Andy Burnham (Image: Dylan Woodley)

There is a chance he wasn't pandering to the Reform voter base and that he does sincerely agree with Farage — Burnham did just vote for Labour's new authoritarian asylum bill, which could see child refugees financially liable for their own care. But, don't worry, he likes Oasis!

With no leadership contest to navigate, it's hard to know exactly what his policies are.

He has given a few nice speeches in Manchester where he said good things about building more social housing. That was cool.

And he did it in a t-shirt. So sick. Bet he can skateboard too

But nothing concrete has been laid out policy-wise. 'Greater public control' of gas and water? Sounds wicked. In what form? He may 'ask for a little more tax'. Sounds great! Who from?

He has the luxury of being non-committal.

In his recent statement about Labour's response to the genocide in Gaza he diplomatically noted that there was "increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed".

You tell 'em, Andy. Finally the advocacy for human rights we've all been waiting for.

The statement itself acted as evidence to suggest that there appears to be a sort of lack of a spine. Hinting towards condemnation of the suggestion of war crimes isn't really up to snuff. And it won't win back the swathes of voters who abandoned Labour due to the moral bankruptcy of Starmer and his cabinet.

This is all to say, I think Burnham will be a better Prime Minister than Keir Starmer.

He's at least voicing good intentions and an understanding of the hurt the country is experiencing, as opposed to voicing support for war crimes on LBC.

He's done positive work in Manchester and earned strong support and a national profile through his advocacy for the region. But let's keep an eye on the bugger.

We need to be wary. To misquote Tim Vine: "when your future PM is appeasing the anti-immigrant sentiments of the far right — alarm bells".

Burnham has a better chance of steering the country away from the clutches of Reform than Starmer did, but he needs to come out swinging with actionable change.

He needs to realise that the Labour party isn't losing votes because it hasn't effectively communicated its Reform-lite policies well enough, but because it's allowed Farage's harmful rhetoric to dominate the national conversation and political climate.

Bróccán Tyzack-Carlin is a comedian and poet. His Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, Good News It's Been Destroyed, is on at the Pleasance at 11pm, August 5-29.