Burnham is fifth PM in four years – now he’ll try to buck the trend

At lunchtime today the UK will have its fifth prime minister in four years.

No other sentence so succinctly summarizes the nature of British politics at the moment.

In the summer of 2022, Boris Johnson was about to leave office but was still in office. Since then there’s Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

No wonder Andy Burnham later said that this surge at the top was “extremely deliberate”, we are told. His critics inside and outside the Labor Party may smile at this, given they claim he has been agitating for this moment for years.

In the post-pandemic, post-Brexit 2020s, when many have long felt life has become difficult, the national mood is impatient and political support is fragmenting.

The result of this in recent years has meant that those in government are unpopular.

That’s the backdrop to Burnham’s arrival at Downing Street, just like Sir Keir Starmer’s 746 days ago – just two years ago on another sunny July day.

This trend of unpopular governments is what Burnham is now trying to oppose.

He is determined to work and continue, to the extent possible, the style of leadership he adopted as mayor of Greater Manchester.

House of Commons rules and meetings with the King, among other things, will likely mean he wears a suit more often than in recent years.

But other conventions may be set aside very deliberately. For example, I hear he may not bother with the podium for his first speech as prime minister in front of 10 Downing Street on Monday.

I’ve also heard that he’s interested in hosting question-and-answer sessions with voters across the country; “Public Question Time,” as one ally put it.

Burnham’s big moment will be preceded by Sir Keir’s departure.