Analysis: with no general election Andy Burnham is under huge pressure to deliver change

He will have to finalise the Defence Investment Plan, the Armed Forces funding package which John Healey resigned over, which will cement whether he can be trusted in keeping the country safe.

The former Greater Manchester Mayor will then have to lead post-Brexit talks with the European Union as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset”, with discussions on a food and drink deal and a youth mobility scheme.

Then Mr Burnham and his Chancellor, whoever that may be, will have to put together a Budget that will inject some life into the UK economy, crippled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, without scaring the bond markets.

That’s on top of an electorate struggling with the cost of living crisis and desperate for someone to tackle small boats crossing the Channel.

But the biggest challenge for Mr Burnham will be to show he can deliver change and quickly.

And that will not be easy within the clunky Whitehall machine, while hamstrung by Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto.

This limits Mr Burnham from raising income tax, national insurance and VAT to fund some of his eye-catching pledges, such as nationalising water and energy.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already encountered issues with this, forced to levy inheritance tax on farmers and raise national insurance for businesses.

How will Mr Burnham and Ms Reeves’ successor negotiate this?

The new Makerfield MP has also pledged to stick to the Chancellor’s fiscal rules, in an attempt to calm the bond markets.

While this is no doubt a sensible thing to do, it further limits the amount of funds Mr Burnham can inject into the UK’s struggling public services.

And the new Prime Minister is sure to struggle with the same issues that Sir Keir Starmer had, with international affairs taking up so much energy and bandwidth.

It was only six months ago that the Government started the year by pledging to focus all its energy on tackling the cost of living crisis.

In the Budget, Ms Reeves announced reductions in energy bills and had a raft of good economic news forecast throughout the year.

However, all that was kiboshed by Donald Trump choosing to go to war with Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Instead the Chancellor had to find extra money for extending the fuel duty freeze, cutting red diesel costs and helping out families using heating oil.

That’s not to mention the Prime Minister dealing with a barrage of insults from the White House.

Mr Trump has already weighed in on Mr Burnham, saying he is “extremely liberal” and that “he was, I guess, the mayor of a town”.

He will also have to deal with the media scrutiny that comes with being Prime Minister, far more intense and hostile than he would have encountered as Greater Manchester Mayor.

Mr Burnham could get defensive when criticised by the regional press, so he will have to develop a thicker skin.

And there will be constant questions about his legitimacy, after not even being an MP at the last election.

His predecessors found Harold Macmillan’s diagnosis of the biggest difficulty of being Prime Minister as “events, my dear boy, events” rather accurate.

Mr Burnham will have to be deft with politics, policy and communications to overcome these challenges.