Andy Burnham has always said he took his first steps out of Westminster in 2009, when he walked out to address furious Liverpool fans at the Kop on the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
They chanted "Justice for the 96" for a full two minutes, demonstrating their anger that nobody in public office had been convicted over the tragedy. Burnham stepped down as an MP in 2017, but before that he introduced a private members' bill seeking to establish a legal duty of candour for public officials. It fell away when Theresa May called an election.
To have finally delivered the Hillsborough legislation as prime minister would have been a deeply symbolic moment for Burnham. However, it was Keir Starmer who stood at the dispatch box in the Commons on Monday night, before MPs approved his version of the long-delayed Hillsborough law, denying Burnham this moment. But Burnham's decision to give his first speech since returning to parliament during the debate turned the moment into the opening salvo of this new era.
The Hillsborough law represents a symbolic handover of power from Starmer to Burnham. The actual shift has been taking place since Burnham's victory in the Makerfield byelection, prompting Starmer to announce he would step down. Since then, Starmer has been seized with a new energy: announcing a social media ban for under-16s, delivering a defence investment plan, joining the EU's €90bn support package for Ukraine, smoothing over tensions with Donald Trump at the Nato summit in Ankara, signing a trade deal with Switzerland, and potentially jetting to the US if England make it to the World Cup final.
Burnham has been making his presence felt on immigration. He told the Guardian during the Makerfield campaign that Shabana Mahmood had been right to grip the issue at the Home Office. Ten days after returning to parliament, Burnham said he would ask the home and foreign secretaries to "review all possible options" to deport the ringleader of a notorious Rochdale grooming gang. In the immigration bill this week, an amendment was added to do just that. He voted for the rest of the legislation, backing Mahmood's changes to indefinite leave to remain and refugee settlement.
"It does feel tonight like life is coming full circle," Burnham told MPs. "As we pass this momentous piece of legislation, a piece of legislation that will change the way this country thinks and works about justice, it truly is a rewiring of the state and a passing of power from the authorities to the hands of ordinary people." Burnham will become Labour leader on Friday and prime minister on Monday.