Burnham wants to be a political rockstar but good vibes & swagger will wear thin if it’s not backed up with proper plan

WHEN a married dad of three describes the “best day of his life” as visiting a dreary office block in Manchester, trouble surely awaits him at home. But Andy Burnham was clearly just joking when he elevated the inaugural trip to No10 North above his wedding day and birth of his children. New PM Andy Burnham wants to be a political rockstar but good vibes & swagger will wear thin Just what kind of weirdo have the Labour Party lumbered us with this time? Credit: Getty Wasn’t he? “I’m not joking,” he told the staff. “I know you think I am, but I’m not.” Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Crumbs. Just what kind of weirdo have the Labour Party lumbered us with this time? First they gave us Keir Starmer, the man who doesn’t even dream. And now Andy Burnham, for whom a government building north of Watford is some kind of wet dream. There are some good reasons for Burnham to want that No10 North. It is a physical presence that voters can see with their own eyes. So much of politics is spent trying to tell the public about all the good work you think you’re doing. Most read in The Sun Boris Johnson understood early on that is far more expedient if you make changes people can literally see. People are more likely to notice — and give credit — for a new fleet of buses and bikes populating their area than they are falling NHS waiting lists. And so it is with No10 North — a hulking great reminder in Heron House that Burnham is both a northerner and committed devolutionist. Could he have embarked on power redistribution from Westminster?Of course he could. No10 North is a hulking great reminder that Burnham is both a northerner and committed devolutionist Credit: Reuters Is Burnhamism just the showbizfication of politics? Credit: AP Is that what will happen anyway? Almost certainly, given the army of civil servants teeming in Whitehall compared to Lancashire. But Burnham wanted his moment. He even did a faintly ridiculous victory lap outside the building, soaking up the applause and bellowing, “I LOVE YOU MANCHESTER”, as if he was a frontman closing out Heaton Park after ten consecutive nights. Velvet Devolver, perhaps. Burnham then went back inside to film some flashy social media clips. He showed us a record disc hanging on his wall and name-dropped that “I need to give that back to Johnny Marr”. He wants to be a political rock star. He loves being loved. He enjoys the showmanship. Every one of his speeches feels like the lyrics to a John Lennon song. “You’ve gotta have good growth in every postcode/And hope in every heart.” So, is Burnhamism just the showbizfication of politics? We know how he drinks his tea (milk first) and wears his sandals (sometimes with socks) but not so much about his vision for Britain. There is a strong desire to be liked, and he is a hard man to dislike. It all feels very Boris. There is good reason for Burnham to want to find the affection of Brits early on, having seen how unpopular Keir Starmer quickly became. He is also introducing himself to a country exasperated that the revolving door of PMs is still spinning. But the good vibes and swagger will wear thin if it is not backed up with a proper plan of action. And that is where I think this Government is already falling short. Burnham fronted three announcements on the cost of living last week, and all three unravelled, in some way, with basic questions over funding. He also raised the hopes of Makerfield and, beyond that, he was about to raise the personal tax allowance having heard it come up on the doorstep so often. Then he realised how much that would cost and quickly retreated. The boffins at HM Treasury take a dim view of uncosted policy fired from the hip. Sort of thing that panics markets, you see. When top banker Howard Davies last week said he thought Burnham was “winging it”, many would have been nodding. We still don’t know what this promised “ten-year plan” will be or when he shall reveal it. Does he actually have one? Every PM needs to be a bit of Liam but they also need to be a bit of Noel, putting in the hard yards behind the scenes. No more will that be true than on the long-dodged issue of social care which Burn- ham has made a do-or-die pledge and will crack on with this week. By all means, do the dad dancing and the DJ sets. Eat scampi fries with John Healey and go viral. Some of the stuff is actually really rather engaging. But TikTok views alone won’t pay the bills. The devolution may be televised but it needs good ratings from punters too . . . and to just work. ELON MUSK made two artificial intelligence predictions last week that sent shivers down my spine. The first cheery prophecy is that humans will effectively become enslaved to vastly superior AI robots in only a matter of time. “If the difference in intelligence between AI and humans is vastly greater than the difference in intelligence between humans and chimpanzees, it’s hard to imagine that the chimpanzees would be in charge,” he said. The second is that, very soon, AI will be able to do everyone’s job better than them. This, the tech mogul predicted, would lead to an “age of absolute abundance” in which people could have anything they dreamed of without lifting a finger. Funnily, this hellscape – humans dossing around all day with no purpose – is even more terrifying. AI is going to turn the world upside down, and not necessarily for the better. But, for too long, governments have ignored it as a second-order issue and allowed a handful of Silicon Valley geniuses to build these increasingly malign models while getting filthy rich. Last week, Andy Burnham both put an AI minister in Cabinet for the first time, and put Patrick Vallance in charge of a new AI Taskforce. These are encouraging signs that the new PM understands the need to bring this tech into check. Comment now