At what point, during Team Burnham’s preparations for government, did the overture to ‘Bus Aunty’ go out? Was she contacted before or after the editor of the Observer, one wonders? Was she approached before they had chosen a policing minister? Was she more important to win over than Al Carns?

If you don’t know who ‘Bus Aunty’ is, that’s a shame, because Andy Burnham doesn’t care. He isn’t trying to talk to you. You, evidently, are a reader. You read pieces in The Spectator. Perhaps you listen to Times Radio, or even peruse our morning newsletter. Well, Andy Burnham’s done with all that. A ‘yes’ from Bus Aunty (real name: Bemi Orojuogun; cause of fame: standing in front of buses on TikTok) means more to the new governing style than a supportive column from Polly Toynbee ever will.

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A lot of excitement has resulted from the fact of Andy Burnham having a degree in English literature. In the New Statesman, Tanjil Rashid wrote that Burnham had a ‘more literary style of politics’ than Keir Starmer. Burnham may have a private interest in Tony Harrison, and a genuinely individual choice of favourite Larkin poem (‘Love Songs in Age’). But journalists, perhaps wishing to validate or show off their humanities degrees, place too much weight on a university course decision that Burnham made at 18. Because Andy Burnham’s governing style is not remotely that of a literate prime minister. In fact, he’s........

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