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It’s already quite disconcerting to think that Keir Starmer was still Prime Minister when this week began.
His disappearance from the headlines has been brutally swift, making way for a replacement in Andy Burnham is keen to make as much noise as possible in his first week.
The last we saw of Starmer, he was sipping a pint outside the Grafton pub in Kentish Town.
As senior political reporter for Metro, I met Starmer a few times both before and after he become Prime Minister – and those pictures of him enjoying a post-Downing Street beer might be the first time I saw him truly at ease.
In person, Starmer is amiable and polite. Ahead of an interview, he would smile and shake my hand with an air of sober professionalism – not overly friendly, but never haughty or aloof.
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Then he would switch into a rather robotic mode as soon as the camera was rolling and the questions began, standing very still and rattling through his responses.
He likely got his points across – he may even have answered a question or two. But he never looked like he was comfortable, like he trusted himself to appear at ease with the information he was sharing.
Today, I travelled to Bath for my first interview with Starmer’s successor, Andy Burnham.
Unlike the man he replaced at No 10, Burnham feels very at home in the world of politics. (His wife says he told her he wanted to be an MP on the first night they met at university.)
When I arrived at the Somerset bus depot where he was announcing a new £2 bus fare cap, the former Mayor of Manchester was taking questions from local media and stuck around once filming stopped to keep chatting.
During our interview, I noticed he seemed more present.
While it felt like Starmer treated every interview like a tightrope to be crossed, Burnham appeared to treat it more simply as an opportunity to put himself across – to sell his policy and his fledgling premiership to a sceptical public.
When I asked him about integrating public transport across the country – something he hasn’t spoken about before and didn’t know I would bring up – the new PM didn’t miss a beat before saying he fully supported it.
I suspect Starmer might have deflected until he could check Labour’s official position on the issue, or panicked that I was about to go off topic.
It’s far too early to say if Burnham will be a success in No 10. But it’s hard not to notice just how different the prime ministerial vibes are under the new occupant.
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