In his first 100 days in office, Andy Burnham has challenged the economic consensus shared by UK governments in recent decades and set up a prime ministerial office outside London with a remit to rewire the state and devolve power. He has also reopened the debate on Brexit and set in motion the biggest social house-building programme since the post-war period.
These are big moves for the prime minister, not unlike those proposed in the king’s speech a month after the 1945 Labour landslide. Then, the Attlee government set out a blueprint focused on nationalising key industries, creating a universal health service and expanding social security.
