Simon Tormey

Well, I think that's the $64,000 question, Sam.

He is a very capable political operator.

He is very good at sort of triangulating, finding the right tone of voice for the right kind of audiences.

I think when you're PM, everything is just scrutinized to the nth degree.

I think Burnham is a smarter political operator than Starmer.

But of course, only time will tell as to whether this actually works out.

And of course, the key issue is

that we're not due a general election until 2029.

But of course, then they're under pressure to revise that timetable because what is the legitimacy of Burnham himself?

He's just been made an MP.

And now he's talking about prime minister and you've got Farage and Kemi Badenoch and all the rest saying, hold on a second, before you do anything, we need another general election in order to give you that mandate and legitimacy.

And of course, they're thinking that if they go to a general election, then maybe even reform wins and we'll see a return of the Conservative Party.

Well, I think the electorate is very disenchanted.

I think there's a section which is very angry.

What Burnham has got to do then is get in front of the cameras, tell a convincing story and avoid obvious catastrophes and crises.

And a lot of that is really, frankly, as we know, outside of the control of the political class anyway.

Geopolitics is a very complex thing.

Trump is out there tweeting.

We've got all sorts of things going on in Europe.

So but I think Burnham will simply you'll sit down and you'll say, I've got the answers to this.