Watching anorak-clad Andy Burnham go toe-to-toe with Boris Johnson might leave Westminster-watchers of a certain vintage a bit bemused. How did the Burnham we used to know in the noughties become Manc lad-in-chief, a political brawler who gives brick-chewing interviews on the pavement?
And perhaps more interestingly, what would have happened if the Burnham of earlier decades had shown the fighting spirit of today’s incarnation? British history might have been quite different.
Think back, if you can, to the summer of 2009. The global financial crisis was still weighing on the UK economy. Gordon Brown was, just about, still Prime Minister, facing an election that had to be called within a year.
One hot night in June that year, James Purnell made his move. Purnell quit as work and pensions secretary, declaring he had no confidence in Brown’s leadership.
Would a Labour party under new, Blairite management have been beaten by David Cameron’s Conservatives?
Now, by the innocent standards of the time, that was a very, very big story.
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