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

The incoming prime minister showed his oratorical skill and that he is prepared to borrow from populism

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 of them not dissimilar to those made by several previous prime ministers before the brutality of the day-to-day business of Downing Street yanked them from the balmy uplands of rhetoric to the trench warfare of government.

There would be no factionalism, Burnham promised, part of his appeal to Labour MPs. That said, the associated claim that he had “supported all our Labour leaders in my lifetime” was extremely cheeky, given he has just forcefully evicted one from No 10.

Other pledges included “a problem-solving rather than a point-scoring approach” to politics; a promise to govern for the whole UK and not just his north-western heartland; and a mention of his much-discussed devolution plans.

If there was a radical core to the speech it came with the remaining promise, to be “more Labour”, something Burnham billed, without modesty, as “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”.

“As your leader, I will set a direction that is distinctively Labour. We won’t try to out-Green the Greens, or out-Reform Reform,” he said. “We win by being us – boldly, confidently, authentically us.”

But even here, what few examples were set out tended to be both familiar and on the general side, for example his promise to bring political control back to people, and to make the essentials of life such as water, housing and transport more affordable, with a greater measure of government control.

Amid all this, the line with perhaps most significance was barely noticed, a passing reference early in the speech. Referring to the speculation about his cabinet, Burnham said: “Contrary to what you may keep on reading, I haven’t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team.”

Can that be true? Burnham’s arrival as prime minister is now so imminent it can be measured in hours. Does he really still not know even the basics of his cabinet?

Most likely this was spin, more reassurance to those left bruised by the partisan punishment-beatings handed out by Starmer’s No 10. If he has a plan, he surely has an idea of who is best placed to deliver it. And time is running out. With just a final weekend of preparation, the massed ranks of reality arrive on Monday.