When the “king of the north” called London “the world’s greatest capital city” this week, it didn’t reassure those who fear that Andy Burnham represents that old national grievance, the north-south divide. The right warned southerners that he was coming to tax their extravagant properties until the pips squeaked.

The idea that London is reviled as a swelling boil or a vampire sucking life from the provinces long pre-dates William Cobbett. Go north of Watford, go east or south-west, and populists can always raise a hiss against the capital. Envy and loathing come in many political shapes: for the right, London is the citadel of left-leaning elitism and also the multicultural crime-ridden swamp of Trump-Vance fabrication. Who doesn’t resent the gilded greed of City bankers – takers, not makers. And Burnham’s popularity is built on northernness.

But in his talk of moving part of No 10’s team north, he takes care to stress it is not about escaping the capital but the clutches of Westminster and Whitehall. He knows the real London is in a growing crisis. Its wonderment draws ambition and talent, but many people are forced to reluctantly leave their home towns for the chance of a job with a future. Universities around the country should spread graduates everywhere, but London forces them south. Burnham said he wants people to find good careers where they are. Can it be done? What a good time for The Political Quarterly to run a special edition on London and its housing crisis.

Far from its streets being paved with gold, the capital has the highest poverty rate in England. Its higher pay doesn’t........

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