Earlier this week, Andy Burnham traipsed out to Buckingham Palace, symbolically kissed the hands of King Charles III – as tradition demanded – and the “King of the North” was duly anointed the new UK prime minister.

Amidst the subsequent euphoria within the Labour Party, the fact that Burnham’s swift rise to the prime ministership was the result of the brutally executed political coup that had deposed his predecessor – the now patently unelectable Keir Starmer – was not mentioned.

Also glossed over was the fact that the Burnham coup was engineered by a small group of Labour Party technocrats (some of whom had been involved in making Starmer prime minister and expelling Jeremy Corbyn from the party) and supported by a majority of anxious Labour backbenchers fearful for their political futures.

The manner in which Burnham became prime minister, and that he did so without winning a general election, raises the question as to whether he has a genuine mandate to implement his recently minted policy program – very much a work in progress and expanding daily – such as it currently is this week.

Amidst the ongoing leadership churn that characterizes contemporary UK politics, such issues of principle no longer matter. It is sufficient that a new prime minister be presentable, have a mild dose of charisma and be capable of inspiring a degree of hope amongst his fellow MPs, as well as an increasingly disenchanted and bitter electorate. Burnham ticks all these boxes in spades, has the ability to conceal his ruthlessness well, and, as an added bonus, is a Northerner and an enthusiastic football fan to boot.

What more could the ailing UK Labour Party possibly ask for in a leader?

It doesn’t matter much that the Labour Party made Burnham prime minister out of sheer desperation. Fortunately for Burnham, no one within Starmer’s cabinet had sufficient credibility left to replace the doomed and unpopular former prime minister.

Burnham could, therefore, pose as something of a political outsider – even though he had previously been an MP for more than a decade – mercifully free from the taint of having been a member of Starmer’s failed and unelectable government.

Burnham’s great virtue as a politician – possibly his only virtue – is his undeniable ability to convey a sense of hope to both party members and disgruntled UK voters. Any politician seriously seeking high office must possess this skill – something that Starmer lacked, and Nigel Farage seems to have forgotten recently as he embraced a rather pathetic and counter-productive brand of political victimhood. Burnham is very good indeed at engendering hope – and recently he has spoken of little else.

Not surprisingly, the theme of hope was at the heart of the brief off-the-cuff speech Burnham delivered outside 10 Downing Street on Monday morning after returning from his audience with the King.

Burnham promised to “make this the moment we bring back hope”; to “make politics work better”; “build a........

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