Andy Burnham's can-do presence dominated this week's Labour conference, positioning him as a transformative leader ready to tackle issues long considered off-limits. His speech was punctuated by softly voiced political shocks: electoral reform, social care, public intervention in failing privatised utilities, the pension triple lock, and even rejoining the EU.
A Break from Conventional Wisdom
The conventional wisdom that Labour governments cannot radically change the country has haunted the party for a century, from the 1920s to Keir Starmer's failed administration. Yet Burnham appears determined to challenge this assumption, using his personal dominance to open up huge issues that his party has long been advised to keep closed.
At last year's conference, Burnham was widely derided for a clumsy leadership coup attempt. This year, his presence was almost as dominant as Tony Blair's in his early leadership years, a constant point of reference from the main hall to the merch stands.
Ruthless Conciliation
Burnham acknowledged that "change will be difficult," but insisted "more of the same isn't good enough." His ally Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, summed up the party's defiant mood: "All politics is a risk. Progressive politics is a particular risk."
Burnham might come across as a nice bloke, but he is politically ruthless, wrongfooting opponents and rendering their tactics obsolete. His talk of hope and national togetherness contrasts sharply with the perpetual outrage of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage.
A Paradoxical Leader
Like Pedro Sánchez in Spain, Burnham is a paradoxical politician: frank and evasive, opposed to populism yet good at populist gestures, echoing the left's critique of capitalism while being pro-business. Labour's modest but persistent rise in the polls suggests voters are ready for a different approach.
Sixty years ago, Harold Wilson won a landslide and lastingly changed Britain by resolving contentious social questions. Burnham may have to settle for doing the same, enacting big reforms as well as talking promisingly about them.
