On Monday, July 20, Sir Keir Starmer will meet King Charles III and formally resign as prime minister, just two years and 15 days into the job. Labour fell out of love with him well before that. The party's members of Parliament wanted someone warmer, more relatable on television, and settled on the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

But the mayor needed a seat in the House of Commons. An ally, Josh Simons, gave up his Makerfield seat a few miles from Burnham’s home, and Burnham won the by-election easily. The MP was sworn in June 22 – the same day Starmer announced he was stepping down. No one challenged him.

Burnham, 56, may have come from outside Westminster to replace Starmer, but he’s not an unknown quantity. This is his third act in politics.

Andy Burnham's working-class path to Westminster

He grew up working class and Catholic between Liverpool and Manchester, and used to say his greatest influences were Everton Football Club, the Labour Party and the Catholic Church, in that order.

At Cambridge, reading English at Fitzwilliam College, and later in London, he has talked often about feeling like an outsider.

There’s an air of the origin story about this. Burnham worked briefly in trade journalism, then he was a researcher for a Labour MP. In 1998 he became special adviser to Chris Smith, culture secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair.

That put him on a fast track.........

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