Andy Burnham's first keynote address to the Labour Party Conference as Prime Minister promised to make the country work again and give the people of Britain a country that "has their back."
Delivered at the ACC Liverpool under banners reading Hope Again, the speech was notable for its difference in tone from his predecessor. When Keir Starmer took to the stage in previous years in Liverpool, his focus was on security, on hard choices, and on his desire to be seen as a serious figure for tough times.
A clear political vision
Mr Burnham used the occasion to set out a clear political vision, alongside an analysis of the failings he perceives as being at the heart of the many challenges he must face. Tracing a direct line between Britain's problems today and decisions made under the Thatcher government, he argued that Britain needs a new social contract, fit for the 21st century.
That contract, he said, must include a reckoning with the cost of social care - and the hard decisions he was admirably keen to confront on the stage in Liverpool.
Institutional legacies
Labour governments have generally left institutional legacies their ideological opponents have found hard to unpick - the NHS, the Open University, and the national minimum wage. The legacies of the Tories, themselves difficult to overturn, are often less positive - privatisation, under-investment in public services, and an ideological commitment not to what works for people but what works for those in positions of privilege.
In an era when too many see politicians as "all the same", Mr Burnham was keen to draw a dividing line between Labour and the parties of the Right - without dwelling for long on party political point-scoring. At the same time, he opened his arms to those who may be open to supporting his party but who are wavering after two years of a government which has failed to deliver change as quickly as many had hoped.
A united party behind his vision
His confident delivery and fervent advocacy of his own big plans matched his overall vision of an optimistic government which can and will take action. He inherits many challenges, but also a huge majority in parliament and, for now, a Labour party united behind his vision.
He has limited time in which to deliver - but today's performance will have persuaded many of his intention to do so.
