Andy Burnham is due to become prime minister in just over a fortnight, but after a marquee speech in Manchester this week, he took precisely zero questions. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch accuses him of dodging scrutiny, but his allies say no: he is simply going about it in his own way. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

The former Greater Manchester mayor is a different type of communicator from Keir Starmer, conveying his message through methods beyond traditional Q&As and stilted broadcast clips. His media strategy is shaped by two things: his ability to communicate like an ordinary human, as shown by his relaxed social media videos, and the more prosaic matters of logistics and media management.

Into the latter came the unusual decision to not take questions after Monday's speech. Timetabling was the official excuse; the real reason was a desire to convey his vision without it being derailed by unanswered queries about cabinet posts. Burnham's diary has also been compressed by access talks with the civil service ahead of entering No 10, leaving minimal time for preparation.

While Burnham's team was pleased with coverage of the speech, they accept that Westminster political editors are unlikely to travel to Manchester just to watch an address they could see on TV. Thus, Burnham gave an interview to Andrew Marr on LBC on Thursday, held an AMA on Reddit on Friday, and will face Instagram user questions on Saturday.

This approach has drawn criticism. Badenoch gatecrashed the AMA, urging him to "face a proper press conference." Burnham replied: "Fair challenge, Kemi – but don't forget it's only two weeks since I faced questions from 74,000 members of the public in Makerfield!" This underscores that Burnham's media plan is broad and based on direct voter questions.

"The biggest asset we have when it comes to Andy's comms is his ability to connect with people," a source in his camp said. "So we want to create opportunities for him to be able to do that." This will include traditional engagements like newspaper interviews and breakfast TV, time permitting. Allies say he will be very visible throughout the summer.

While Burnham was elusive on the night of the Makerfield byelection, he began the campaign with an event where he took over an hour of questions from the media. He cannot fairly be accused of hiding from the media as mayor, but a bigger test awaits his communications team, now led by Sarah Brown, an experienced hand who until next week works for London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Grace Pritchard, another seasoned Labour comms professional, is likely to become No 10 press secretary. Talks are underway to recruit others into a collegiate and "empowered" team. However, the chaos of Downing Street can disrupt any plan.

Craig Oliver, former head of communications under David Cameron, said: "How do you react when it gets serious? A lot of these methods are quite good when the tide is in your favour, but become a struggle when the shit hits the fan."

Paul Ovenden, formerly Starmer's head of political strategy in No 10, noted Burnham's evolution as a communicator. He said: "Moving to Manchester has enabled him to change his communication style. I don't think it's cynical; he's just communicating in a more natural way now. There are different ways to skin a cat, and Andy's style – earthy, genuine, talking like normal people – is fitting for the moment."