What Andy Burnham’s first speech as Labour leader tells us

Andy Burnham’s speech was delivered confidently and with both sincerity and humour. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/EPA View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham’s speech was delivered confidently and with both sincerity and humour. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/EPA Analysis What Andy Burnham’s first speech as Labour leader tells us Peter Walker Senior political correspondent The incoming prime minister showed his oratorical skill and that he is prepared to borrow from populism UK politics live – latest updates Nearing the end of his speech accepting the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham paused. “I know what to do,” he said. “I have a plan.” Perhaps he does. But even after half an hour of dense rhetoric, it is still not especially clear what this is. Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday after this formal party coronation, is a politician who runs largely on vibes, and that was the driving force of his address to the Labour faithful in central London. It was a necessarily artificial occasion. Shabana Mahmood, who as national executive chair announced the result, barely contained her laughter as she set out how Burnham had taken 379 nominations from Labour MPs against one for Catherine West, and cast that as essentially a party in-joke . As soon as a suit-clad Burnham began his victory address, two things were immediately reinforced. The first – and this is in no short measure the reason he was standing there – is that the new prime minister is a much, much better orator than the man he replaces. A speech rich in resonant language was delivered confidently and with both sincerity and humour, at times self-deprecating, showing an almost Johnsonian sense of mischief that Keir Starmer appears to lack entirely. The second striking point was how much Burnham’s themes borrowed from populism, albeit lightly, and infused with togetherness rather than Nigel Farage’s division and anger. A long section harking back to the fate of steelworks, mines and shipyards almost echoed Reform’s laments about deindustrialisation, even if Burnham’s response is to pledge support to the fate of communities left behind by this, rather than vainly promise a new era of manual labour. Similarly, there were numerous references to football, a subject Burnham trots out on an almost reflex basis to emphasise his man-of-the-people credentials, much as Farage does with pubs and pints. On the other side of the ideological divide, Burnham’s references to hope, and particularly the closing line – “That’s my mission as your new leader, to bring back hope. I believe in all of you, and I am confident we can do it” – could have been spoken by Zack Polanski, pioneer of his own brand of left-leaning populism. For veteran Burnham-watchers, many themes were deeply familiar, particularly the condemnation of how the UK’s economic reshaping under Margaret Thatcher left many places abandoned, plus a solution based around devolving powers. The backbone of the speech involved five broad pledges, four