Burnham revels on public stage but has little time to hammer ideas into shape

Sir Keir's argument was that he would be pragmatic, not bound by ideology or too fixed a worldview. But his internal critics long privately grumbled, and more recently increasingly publicly grumbled that this amounted to him all too often not being able to articulate what he did believe. So now many of them exude a sense of relief, even joy, that Burnham, on the big picture at least, appears to know his own mind. It hasn't always been like this: Burnham's critics a decade ago, after he had fought and lost his second Labour leadership race, would joke about his indecision and capacity to change his mind. Elements of this critique have returned more recently, from some, given his changing outlook on the Waspi women campaign, the government's borrowing rules and on trans rights, for instance. But it also true that Burnham's time as the Mayor of Greater Manchester has allowed him to develop and road test a political outlook he now wants to extend to the UK as a whole. Devolution, the pushing of power away from Westminster, is at the centre of this. A couple of years ago Burnham co-authored a book with the Labour mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram. It is a tome, 'Head North,' which Westminster is now re-devouring, poring over for clues about his instincts and how much of what he advocated then he will actually seek to deliver in government. …