‘Now is the change moment’: Burnham avoids press queries but his staff have no doubts

Newly-elected Makerfield MP praises team as he joins them at campaign HQ, celebrating victory ‘beyond our wildest dreams’

There was plenty of the hopey, changey stuff from Andy Burnham at his victory rally on the morning after the night before – but it ended with the new MP for Makerfield doing a runner. “Are you going to become the new prime minister?” shouted Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, at the retreating Burnham. “Keir Starmer says he is not going to give way – what’s your message for Keir Starmer?”

Hemmed in by cameras, chairs, tables, and a whole load of the giggling supporters who had been assembled around him on the turf at Ashton Town FC’s grounds, Burnham picked up the pace.