Boring Burnham fails to rouse the troops - but at least he actually answers questions
The new Prime Minister did one thing much better than than his predecessor: he actually answered questions.
Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for more than six weeks.
But due to the summer recess, he only appeared in the Commons for the first time as PM on Tuesday.
The statement was about the “direction of government”. But it had little substance to it.
Mr Burnham seemed a bit nervous and his delivery was stilted.
He spoke a lot about issues he has discussed before: buses, water and devolution.
There was too much jargon, which was odd for this new straight talking “man of the people” Prime Minister.
Mr Burnham said at one point that he was “developing the triple helix approach to economic development by entwining business, academia, and government behind the plan”.
He then concluded that he had “outlined a clear, coherent and credible path to growth” in his statement. The Tories laughed at him loudly across the chamber.
Mr Burnham was - and I do not say this lightly - nearly as bad as Sir Keir Starmer.
Although, he did one thing much better than than his predecessor: he actually answered questions.
In fact, Mr Burnham came to life (well, at least a wee bit) when responding to Kemi Badenoch.
The PM broke down each of the Conservative leader’s points bit by bit, starting with a jibe about Ms Badenoch’s recent trip to Rome.
He noted that she was “told by the Italian Prime Minister not to do a deal with Reform” and joked that “I would have told her that and saved her a trip”.
It provoked a big laugh from his backbenchers, who showed more enthusiasm than they had throughout his 20-minute statement.
He went through her response, addressing what she had said on Ukraine, the job being different to that of Greater Manchester Mayor, rebutting her claims about small boat crossings and defending his argument that the UK has been in decline since the 1980s.
Mr Burnham got more laughs from his own MPs when he pointed out that his government is less than a week away from lasting longer than Liz Truss. Another sore one for Ms Badenoch.
When speaking in the Commons or answering questions from the media, Sir Keir tended to ignore whatever was said to him and just waffled away about how everything was the Tories’ fault.
The new PM has clearly learned from this and understands that he has to justify the decisions he makes, rather than avoiding any scrutiny.
It has earned him plaudits from the public so far and will give him more of their goodwill than Sir Keir ever got.
The Prime Minister’s first speech in the Commons as leader of the country really should be a big occasion.
But it ended up not being the main story of the day.
Sir Keir’s announcement that he was standing down as an MP dominated the headlines.
You would be forgiven for thinking he wanted to steal the limelight from the man who ousted him - and whether he only got involved in politics for the personal ambition of being Prime Minister.
After waiting so long to make a Commons appearance, Mr Burnham is back again on Wednesday for his first Prime Minister’s Questions.
Thankfully he isn’t making a speech this time.
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