From inside his understated office in Manchester city centre last year, Andy Burnham spoke to me at length about his belief in “bottom-up devolution”.

I had travelled down last February to speak to the then-mayor of Greater Manchester for our first Future of Glasgow series. He was down-to-earth, coming across as a naturally friendly person who genuinely cared about the people and the city he represented. He was more than happy to continue speaking well after our time was up despite his team’s anxious glances at the clock.

Before our meeting, I wandered around the city speaking to passersby about Burnham. In Glasgow, many folk would be hard-pressed to tell you who leads Glasgow City Council, or who the Lord Provost is. But here, from clusters of twenty-somethings vaping outside of a bar to pensioners waiting for the tram, everyone I spoke with had something positive to say about Burnham.

We are well short of charismatic politicians in this country, so it came as no surprise to me that the Labour politician won the Makerfield by-election by a landslide. It is also unsurprising that he looks poised to become the Prime Minister next month after Keir Starmer’s resignation today.

Marissa MacWhirter interviews Andy Burnham for The Herald last year........

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