What Burnham’s speech tells us about his approach to government

Every Prime Minister does the job in a different way, but beneath the differences you can see some common traits in those who make a success of it. They are great judges of people, whether picking key aides for No10 or selecting (and managing) the Cabinet. They are superb at setting the agenda – a narrative that is inspiring, dominating, credible (enough) and can be translated into action. And they have an unfailing instinct for tone, for meeting the emotional needs of different audiences in diverse times and places.

Add to that enormous personal resilience and drive, a degree of cunning matched by fundamental integrity, and the ability to deal more or less continually with the unexpected, and you have the making of a successful British Prime Minister.

Most PMs come to power after a decent period of preparation – either in Opposition, or as a senior Minister in the Cabinet. Burnham faces a much harder task: out of Parliament since 2017, not in the Cabinet since 2010. But we also know he will have to act fast: just about every pressured cycle of modern life – media, diplomatic, political and electoral – will be taking time away from him once he is in power.

We have learned little so far about Burnham’s choice in people: his one major decision has been the respected former colleague James Purnell as Chief of Staff. Expect speculation about Cabinet roles – including Chancellor – to keep running. But we did learn a lot about his narrative for domestic policy – devolution to places, reinvigoration of local government, partnership between sectors (public, private, voluntary, academic and community), even partnership with the Treasury. And a heavy emphasis on council housing – (council, not social), on technical education, industrial policy (steel, defence, energy, food, farming all got name-checked), sticking to the fiscal rules and references (lacking detail) to more public control of utilities. There was even a major institutional innovation – ‘No10 of the North’, which in detail reads more like a rewiring of Government.

Most impressive perhaps was the tone: uplifting and positive, with almost nothing that was directly critical even of political opponents. There is an obvious contrast with the fiscal challenges that will await a new PM. And perhaps in future speeches we will hear more about new technologies, climate change, industrial change, Europe and the global situation. But it is the energy and commitment shown in this speech that will probably be remembered most.