Gallagher swagger is half a world away from Starmer

“Now get this,” said Andy Burnham during his first speech as prime minister-in-waiting.

- SIMON WALTERS

It grabbed you by the collar, drawing attention to his big announcement, a plan for a “No 10 North” to revive the regions. It was less of a political announcement than an act of braggadocio, his way of telling the Labour Party and the rest of us: “Listen up! Check me out. I’m the boss around here now. Watch me go!” Aspects of Burnham’s performance were delivered with the kind of cocksure confidence associated with another Manchester icon: Noel Gallagher of Oasis.

You can hear Noel telling adoring fans “now get this” as he announces a new tune. Now “Andy” had a new tune. He has been compared to Noel Gallagher more than once, usually for his T-shirt and bomber jacket style rather than his political pronouncements.

Kemi Badenoch has seized on it as a weakness, lampooning Burnham’s image, saying Labour ditched Starmer for “a pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt”. Far from being embarrassed, Burnham embraced it, offering a mock apology to Badenoch for wearing a T-shirt for his big speech in Manchester.