How Andy Burnham has restored the idea of Labour as a ‘moral crusade’ once more – Brian Wilson

In Labour’s case, that need for differentiation was urgent. I never doubted the honourable intentions of Keir Starmer or the worthiness of much that his government delivered. It wasn’t all bad news, by any means.

However, the early own goals conveyed exactly the wrong signal to an electorate which had voted for a breath of fresh air and got the winter fuel payments debacle instead. Starmer never recovered. Thereafter, there was too little to remind people why it had been worth electing a Labour government, other than to get rid of the Tories.

Therein, by way of contrast, lay the strength of Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour party conference. It was an unapologetically Labour speech, which articulated a moral purpose and generated a sense of hope. Both are intangibles but neither should be underestimated.

READ MORE: Andy Burnham shows he is the bravest Labour leader in a long time

Wilsonian style

Of course, the Tory press and sneering commentators could not wait to mock. In their world, Prime Ministers are not supposed to talk in down to earth language with a regional accent. It’s a long time since it happened; Harold Wilson, maybe.

It was Wilson who coined the maxim: “Labour is a moral crusade or it is nothing.” That has been quoted ever since, usually sounding more like a useful cliché than an expression of fundamental belief. Burnham, on the other hand, doesn’t even need to repeat it because his whole persona conveys the impression that this is indeed where his politics come from.

Will it be enough? I’ve no idea. In a couple of weeks’ time, it will be back to the coalface of practical politics. Conference speeches will have been largely forgotten though the impression will persist of a Prime Minister who is truly committed to a more socially coherent society and will do his level best to deliver it. That will carry him so far.

Immediate challenges, however, may be largely beyond the control of government. Recognising the importance of people being able to heat their homes is one thing. Countering the effects of unwanted wars that are choking off the energy sources we all depend on is another. Somehow, he may have to bridge that gap.

READ MORE: Andy Burnham 'determined to prove John Swinney wrong' in blistering defence of union

Unfair to Blair

Burnham spoke about making “a break with the direction of the past 40 years” which is fine as a rhetorical flourish but a bit unfair on the Blair years which provided substantial relief within that period. In fact, if his own Prime Ministership delivers equivalent outcomes in addressing deprivation and inequality, it will have done pretty well.

The problem is that so much progress achieved in the early years of the century has been reversed while the economic legacy Burnham has inherited is a lot worse than existed then. The challenge of matching his personal commitment to radical change with demonstrable outcomes will need time, which makes it even more important that he establishes an early bond of trust with voters.

This week’s headlines screamed about the most left-wing Labour leader’s conference speech since the 1970s but Burnham’s record suggests that, while his objectives are certainly radical, the means of achieving them owe more to pragmatism than ideology.

Much of what he hopes to reverse dates back to the excesses of privatisation in the Thatcher-Major years. The imperative for, let’s say, taking away the Avanti franchise on the West Coast line or bringing Thames Water back into public ownership will not be ideology, but necessity. There will be more such cases to follow.

Similarly Burnham’s record in Greater Manchester has been built on visionary ambitions linked to working closely with the private sector in order to deliver them. If, for example, house-building targets are going to be met, that will be equally essential at national level. It’s what works that matters.

READ MORE: Michael Marra: Scotland is an 'absolute priority' for the Prime Minister

The good sense of voters

There were so many declarations of intent in Burnham’s speech that some big ones were almost overlooked. We can now be confident that we have a Prime Minister who is committed to undoing as much of the Brexit damage as feasible and the vast majority will welcome that, even if they might be wary of another referendum.

Whatever one thinks about electoral reform, it was a bold step for a Labour Prime Minister to put it firmly on the political agenda. In the light of the past decade, it’s hard for anyone to argue any longer that first-past-the-post provides stability, so why not? (Just please don’t adopt the Holyrood electoral model).

Burnham’s approach to the triple lock on pensions was sensible. Over a period, it should be possible to establish the case for funding a National Care Service as a more important imperative than the marginal impact on pensions. There is nothing sudden going to happen and, at some point, the good sense of voters has to be appealed to.

Humility? From Swinney?!

Incidentally, the reaction of John Swinney confirmed his pettiness. A fabricated figure was produced for what Scottish pensioners would “lose” without any mention of how a National Care Service would be provided or the massive social reform that it would constitute.

His party having failed so comprehensively in its own promise to create a National Care Service, one might have expected a modicum of humility from Swinney but, always the miserabilist where grievance can be detected, that is not a word that features in his vocabulary.

Burnham has served notice that the next few years of his government will be interesting and brave, underpinned by that clear sense of moral purpose. That will do to be going on with and we shouldn’t dismiss lightly what “the audacity of hope” can deliver.