It was a little under two years ago that Keir Starmer stood outside 10 Downing Street and declared that his new government would “end the era of noisy performance [and] tread a little more lightly on your lives.”

It was a bold ambition and, after a shambolic end to Tory rule, a welcome one. Was it also an unrealistic one? An undeliverable pledge? There is a view that Britain has become almost impossible to govern. Our problems are too deep and the nation is too divided. I do not subscribe to this view. To do so would absolve our leaders and political parties of responsibility.

Starmer has been forced out not because he faced an impossible task but because he proved to be a failure. His inadequacies caught up with him. I’d like to think that Labour MPs turned on their leader because they grew impatient at the lack of economic growth or because they think he went too far in taxing businesses, but the truth is they turned on him because his unpopularity looked set to cost them their jobs. Or as Starmer put it in his resignation speech: “The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election [and] I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question.” Such understatement!

Burnham won’t be able to cut welfare even if he wanted to

Starmer said that walking up Downing Street in July 2024 was “the proudest moment of my life” and, as his voice broke, it was clear that standing down will count among the most painful. But he never met the moment. His bland, technocratic approach to politics – and to his own party – meant he was never going to be loved, but while Labour MPs cried out for someone with a little more charisma the rest of the country needs someone capable of taking tough decisions on spending and welfare while supporting private enterprise and easing the crippling tax burden. Will Andy Burnham be that person? Don’t bet on it.

Makerfield’s new MP may not have come to Westminster with a manifesto but he brings plenty of baggage and some dangerous ideas. Who in their right mind would diagnose this country’s challenges and conclude that the problem is our energy companies aren’t owned by the state? He won’t be able to cut welfare even if he wanted to, and he’s surrounded by MPs and advisers clamouring for higher taxes. He may enjoy a brief honeymoon but reality will hit him before the nights draw in.

At that point Labour, and the country, could be back to square one.