What Andy Burnham did and didn’t say in speech setting out ‘radical’ No 10 plans

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Andy Burnham had a big smile on his face as he stepped up to the lectern at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, for obvious reasons.

He was standing in front of a supportive crowd who roared with approval when he bounded up the steps and set his speech in front of him – and he surely knew this speech would be an absolute barnstormer in the room.

It was clear from the beginning that this would be a radical change from the kinds of thing we heard from Keir Starmer… starting with the fact Burnham was willing to literally call for ‘radical change’.

When I spoke to Starmer just under six months ago, he told me directly he is ‘fed up’ with politicians who use that phrase.

He said: ‘Liz Truss thought she’d have a radical change by taking no notice of the financial institutions that create stability.

I remember thinking at the time that this felt like a misreading of the public mood – the rise of Reform UK and the Green Party shows people think the country has fundamental issues that require a drastic solution.

Compare that with Burnham’s words today: ‘Westminster and Whitehall are set up for conflict, and they require radical change if the country is to get back on track.’

This would involve no less than the ‘biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen’, through an ambitious programme of devolution.

Under Burnham, that effort would be led from an ‘extended operation’ of No 10 Downing Street based in Manchester – which he dubbed No 10 North, but I think deserves the name of the most famous northern Number 10: The Kabin.

Just as that newsagent is one of the nerve centres of Coronation Street, Burnham described this new office as the ‘nerve centre of a rewired Britain’.