Anyone curious to know what an Andy Burnham premiership might look like should head to their local bookshop to find out.
Before the 2024 general election, Mr Burnham co-authored a book called Head North, which he described as part-memoir and part-polemic.
In the book, written with Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of Liverpool, Mr Burnham set out a political vision billed as “a rallying cry for a more equal Britain”.
Mr Burnham may have left Westminster to become the mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 as a former New Labour minister and Corbyn-era survivor, but he returns as a constitutional activist.
Successive governments, including those of Blair and Brown, have failed to build a country that works for everyone, he argues.
Despite decades of devolution, too much power remains at the centre, controlled by a London-obsessed elite who simply do not know what life is like outside the capital.
Head North not only rails against the self-serving politics of the Westminster bubble but also delivers a 10-point plan to overhaul the entire political system.
Britain’s political malaise isn’t just cultural or economic, argues Mr Burnham, it is structural. Constitutional change, he believes, is the only way to fix Britain’s broken politics.
It is an argument echoed on the Right by policy experts such as Sam Freedman, in his book Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It, who worked as a policy adviser to Michael Gove in education.
And it is this political conviction, Mr Burnham’s supporters argue, that explains why he is a popular – as opposed to a populist – politician.
This is not the performative political posturing of Zack Polanski, the Green leader, on the Left, nor the rage-baiting antics of Nigel Farage on the Right.
It is the central motivation that drives Mr Burnham, whose politics were shaped by the Hillsborough disaster, the institutional cover-up that followed and the stark lesson it teaches: how the state can brutally fail any one of us.
One senior Labour figure who has known Mr Burnham since his time in the Gordon Brown government said that at that time he had been very much “part of the bubble”.
But he said that during Mr Burnham’s time as Manchester mayor, he had “learnt a lot”, adding: “That’s one of the reasons people voted for him. They don’t want another usual London politician. I think that might be his strongest card.
“Andy’s latched on to this idea of inside and outside. He’s been able to use his position in Manchester to give himself the appearance of an insurgent spirit. That gives him an advantage, a point of view and a perspective.”
But the figure cautioned that this did not necessarily amount to a clear policy programme. “Whether that amounts to a worked-out philosophy – I don’t think it does,” he said.
“He has come to London to lead the insurgency. But the minute he comes to London and is on his way into No 10, if he’s not careful, he will become part of the elite and therefore part of the problem. My question is, will he be able to deliver?”
Head North articulates a desire to rewire the political establishment in a way that Mr Burnham’s repeated bleatings about “Manchesterism” and “change” never capture.
But it is a view that Mr Burnham has so far failed to convey in his attempt to become prime minister, despite all his communication skills. If anything, the Makerfield by-election campaign caused more harm than good to his image as a politician of substance.
It was a campaign marked by constant flip-flopping as Mr Burnham ditched or distanced himself from his own publicly expressed views about rejoining the EU, how to tackle immigration and whether ministers really do need to be “in hock” to the bond markets.
This – combined with a political career in Westminster that saw Mr Burnham shape-shift from Blairite loyalist to Brownite champion, then Corbyn foot soldier – has done little to calm fears that he may be something of an empty vessel.
One well-placed Labour source said Mr Burnham’s views “depend on what day of the week it is”. They added that the uneasy coalition of Labour figures helping him to win the seat in Makerfield would not last.
“Andy’s going to have to decide what kind of team he is going to build around him,” they said. “Currently, he has Corbynites working for him up there, as well as people from the moderate part of the party – and those two groups can’t exist together in the long term.
“He is building the campaign in a very similar way that Keir did. And Keir found that he had to pick a side. And Andy will be faced with the same conundrum.”
There is a growing fear among some within Labour that the parliamentary party is gearing up to replace one prime minister with another who could be little more than “Keir on steroids” but with better banter?
It is this “misconception” that Mr Burnham and his allies will now have to tackle if there is a leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer in No 10.
Recent additions to Mr Burnham’s close circle of allies suggest a renewed determination to project an image of a serious politician of substance.
The “pie and the pint and the polo shirt” image may work well enough in Manchester, but something more is needed to de-risk Mr Burnham for some Labour MPs now being asked to back him.
However, one ally of the Makerfield MP said: “He will be a pragmatist who will genuinely aim to unite factions, work with different people and devolve lots of power out of Westminster to local areas.
“I think Makerfield will be the making of him. If he had won selection and won Gorton and Denton, he would have drifted Leftwards as Labour people naturally do.
“The small-c nature of Makerfield, I think, will focus minds when difficult decisions have to be made. The first big test of his character is whether he is prepared to let friends down who will be expectant of cabinet posts and won’t get them.”
Mr Burnham’s allies have been requesting notes from ministers about their work and holding preliminary conversations with the Civil Service in preparation for taking over.
This is, in part, designed to project an image of a team that is ready for government.
Experienced economists have also been drafted in to bolster Mr Burnham’s rather battered economic credentials, since he blithely declared the government need not be in hock to the bond markets.
He is now seeking advice from Andy Haldane, a former Bank of England chief economist, Richard Hughes, the former chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility and Lord O’Neill, the crossbench peer and former Treasury minister who worked with George Osborne on the Northern Powerhouse project.
The heavy lifting on pulling together a substantive policy platform for government is shared between Josh Simons, who quit the Makerfield seat to make way for Mr Burnham to stand, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the former energy minister, who resigned earlier this year and is an ally of Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary.
Louise Haigh, Mr Burnham’s campaign manager, who has ditched her bright and breezy image for something more sophisticated and serious, is thought to be in line for the post of chief secretary to the Treasury if Mr Burnham succeeds in ousting Sir Keir. She was forced out of the Cabinet by Sir Keir in 2024 over historic fraud allegations.
Lucy Powell, sacked by Sir Keir in a reshuffle and subsequently elected deputy leader, is also in line for a Cabinet return. Lisa Nandy, the current Culture Secretary, who is perpetually tipped for the chop under Sir Keir’s leadership, could be in line for a promotion.
Chancellor Ed Miliband?
However, it is the role of chancellor which will carry the greatest weight for some MPs when they contemplate whether Mr Burnham is ready for No 10.
Which makes it all the more extraordinary that Mr Miliband has been tipped for the Treasury – a man more likely than most to spook the bond markets and send borrowing rates soaring.
In No 10 itself, the Downing Street operation is set to be headed up by Kevin Lee, Mr Burnham’s current chief of staff and long-standing confidant.
Kate Green, Manchester’s mayoral deputy, could also be called up, along with Luke Francis, Ms Nandy’s former aide, tipped to become the director of political strategy.
Mr Burnham has already announced that Grace Pritchard, lent to the Burnham campaign to handle the mass-media interest of the Makerfield by-election, has been taken on full-time. She could become the new prime minister’s press secretary.
The search for a heavyweight director of communications has already begun, with key lobby journalists being sounded out.
Feeding into the Burnham programme for government are a host of soft-Left pressure groups, including Mainstream and Compass, headed by Neal Lawson, and the Labour Growth group, headed by director Mark McVitie.
The Institute for Public Policy Research’s Zoë Billingham will also be an influential voice either inside or outside No 10 as will Jon Cruddas, an ex-MP and Labour’s former party policy chief.