Let’s hope Andy Burnham avoids the curse of mayor Boris - Vladimir McTavish

But that is quite a big “if”. He faces a serious challenge from Reform UK.

Andy Burnham has spent his years away from Westminster burnishing his reputation in England’s second city, particularly in championing causes such as the victims of Hillsborough. However, he has already stood for the party leadership twice. This could be his last throw of the dice.

There is no doubt that the charismatic Mayor of Greater Manchester would have a greater approval rating with the public than the increasingly beleaguered Starmer.

Burnham definitely does have the man-of-the-people demeanour and the communication skills that will undoubtedly bring many disillusioned voters back to Labour if he eventually does become party leader.

And he should almost certainly get a lot more support from the grassroots than Tory clone Wes Streeting, the former health secretary. God help us all if he ended up in Downing Street.

There is little doubt that Andy Burnham would be a breath of fresh air if he ever got into Number Ten. He is clearly very popular in the North, which has been ignored by too many successive governments.

One note of caution should be sounded, however. Making the leap from popular, charismatic local mayor to Prime Minister of the country has only ever been achieved once before. And it was an unmitigated disaster the last time around.

Even a lot of Labour-leaning Londoners thought Boris Johnson made decent stab of being Mayor of London. His bombastic bravado galvanised the capital.

He then became the worst Prime Minister in British history. And that’s a list that includes Liz Truss, Theresa May and Jim Callaghan.

I’m not saying history would repeat itself if Burnham became PM. Indeed, it almost certainly wouldn’t. Thankfully, there will only ever be one Boris Johnson. But it’s worth being cautious nonetheless.