Andy Burnham is not the prime minister. It is important to remind oneself of that fact, given the tone of coverage that has surrounded the new MP for Makerfield as he rumbles towards a coronation as leader of the Labour Party.

Last week, Burnham made a speech that was distinctly prime ministerial in tone, a sweeping state of the nation address which veered away from the candidate’s “I would” and into the statesman’s “I will”.

The speech set out a new, ambitious and interventionist vision for the British government, promising good growth in every postcode, the biggest council housebuilding programme since the Second World War, and greater public control of utilities.  

The lack of detail on how this was all to be achieved was noted by many, but is perhaps unsurprising. Burnham has been swept to the edge of power with astonishing speed and the timetable set out by Keir Starmer, the outgoing prime minister, has given him a matter of weeks in which to prepare a workable agenda. In such circumstances, one can hardly blame Burnham for keeping his powder dry and his options open.

Nevertheless, his speech left many people asking the big questions around how he planned to deliver his goals and how he might fund them – particularly in light of the billions of pounds of capital spending cuts now required to cover the extra cost of the defence investment plan.

In the absence of clear policy statements, Burnham’s precise choice of words in speeches like the one last week take on an outsized significance. With his likely ascendance to Number 10 still weeks away, and more specific plans unlikely to materialise before then, Building picked through his speech for clues about what a Burnham government might look like.