Andy Burnham offers Labour a refreshing new voice to reach lost voters – but with what message? | Rafael Behr

It will take more than blokeish affability to reach across the Brexit faultline that scars British politics Andy Burnham’s stint as health secretary in the final year of Gordon Brown’s government was not especially memorable, although one observation from a senior civil servant in the department at the time has stuck in my mind. Working for Burnham, I was told, felt like “revising for exams with a mate who might turn to you and say: ‘shall we sack this off for a bit and play football instead?...

By Rafael Behr