So Parliament returns and finally Andy Burnham will receive proper scrutiny.
The problem for Labour is, pollsters agree with me: the Burnham bounce is already over.
And so before what is likely to be yet another Labour budget that delivers more damaging tax rises, Burnham’s party is already in a spot of bother.
Yes, Labour’s support has certainly recovered a bit since being led by the most unpopular PM ever in Keir Starmer.
But the boats keep coming. Energy prices are still rising. And high taxes are still crushing the economy.
It means that Burnham’s honeymoon period has come to an end pretty sharpish.
Indeed the vibes in Westminster are that the new PM could still call an early General Election as things are likely to get worse for Labour in the near future.
Graduate job vacancies have plunged by close to 50% in a year. Those being given the right to live in the UK just rose to a 16-year high. And all this at a time when nearly 1.3 million migrants are already now claiming Universal Credit.
The situation is fundamentally unfair, with workers and businesses in this country punished and squeezed to breaking point.
Yet it takes us to a point now where as Parliament returns, Labour have already fallen behind Reform again.
This is the reality of the political battle now raging.
