Andy Burnham has repeatedly insisted that ‘politics isn’t working’.

It is hard to disagree with him when Britain is about to be lumbered with a leader for whom no one voted.

If this country’s politics is in a mangled state then so, too, is our democratic system, thanks to Mr Burnham and his party.

His rise to power is very different to leadership changes which took place within previous governments – red or blue – because he was not remotely part of the Labour team which signed up to the party’s 2024 General Election manifesto.

It is very difficult to place any trust in such an interloper.

And Mr Burnham’s tactics and demeanour during this awkward interregnum are only making matters worse. He avoided proper scrutiny from the media by not taking questions after his keynote speech at the beginning of the week.

Then he gave a 15-minute broadcast interview where his answers were, to say the least, broad brush in nature.

The rest of his engagement with the public has been through social media videos and a question and answer session where the trickiest points were easily dodged. What a stitch-up.

Furthermore, despite all his bluster about ‘giving Britain the circuit breaker it needs’, this Burnham revolution will seemingly rely on old technology rather than new.

The suggestion that Ed Balls, James Purnell and David Miliband may play key roles in the new administration prompts the obvious question: is that really the best you can do?

In his post-government career Mr Purnell jumped into a series of wishy-washy jobs with the BBC and the like, while Mr Miliband Sr lost the Labour leadership to his peculiar younger brother and fled the country. As a TV presenter, Mr Balls threw propriety to the wind and interviewed his own wife, Yvette Cooper, about her responsibilities as Home Secretary.

All these characters are past their prime, if they ever had one.

Mr Burnham could trigger a major economic downturn if he insists upon punishing businesses with tax and business rate rises. At this stage, no one has the foggiest idea what he will do – beyond the broad outline of increasing taxes to pay for hugely expensive policies such as his promised utilities reforms – and investors are already jittery.

Elsewhere in the world, there are pressing issues to be dealt with, not least the war on Ukraine.

Washington yesterday warned that the Kremlin is planning an armed incursion into Polish territory in order to test Nato’s resolve.

But how a Burnham government would respond to such a crisis can only be guessed at, because he is obstructing any opportunity to drill down into his thinking – if there is any – on this kind of subject.

Tellingly, Sir Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney this week admitted Labour had not done enough preparation when it came to power.

That was after 14 years in opposition.

But now – in little over 14 days – a half-baked government will begin a largely improvised experiment on how to run the country.

Not only will Mr Burnham be a PM without a mandate, he will be a PM without anything approaching a credible plan.