Chris Mason: What his first week in power tells us about Andy Burnham

The fledgling Burnham administration has been seeking to find its feet and make a decent first impression at the same time, the BBC's political editor Chris Mason explains. It has been quite the week at Westminster. Sir Keir Starmer's departure as prime minister on Monday seems rather a while ago.

The fledgling Burnham administration has been seeking to find its feet and make a decent first impression at the same time, as many try to do in the first days in a job. There has been an early pattern in these early days: an early morning nugget of news dropping from No10. On Thursday, it was business rates in England; on Wednesday, it was bus fares in England and on Tuesday, it was a VAT cut on electricity bills. Today, the prime minister is assembling what Rayner calls "a pride of mayors" among others for a meeting of what is known as the National Economic Council at the new No10 North in Manchester.

Andy Burnham claims his new base in Manchester represents the beginning of " the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen, external " and he will be "bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years". His early announcements have been considerably more piecemeal than that – he says his "10 year plan for Britain" will come later in the year. It is worth remembering there was talk from both Boris Johnson and his allies and from Sir Keir Starmer about their plans for the decade ahead – both fizzled out rather more quickly than that.

So how should we assess how much politics has changed, or not? The early evidence - and let's be frank, it is only that given we are just a few days in - points to Andy Burnham being both more sharp and more nimble than his predecessor in setting out what he is attempting to do and trying to point to early examples of what that might look like, with the announcements of the last few days. With the tinkering of how the government is run, like the creation of the Office of Prime Minister, and the establishment of No 10 North, he's made it clear that power very much flows through him.

On Friday, he said, about being at No 10 North alongside his chancellor, John Healey, First Secretary of State Lou Haigh and Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo that it was sending a "powerful message" to everyone that the "political commitment is there". Burnham's opponents are having to recalibrate and work through how they take on a new prime minister. The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's al fresco speech and news conference on a rooftop in central London on Thursday was a tacit acknowledgement that the political terms of trade have changed.

She teased the new prime minister over his informal style – he "seems like a nice guy…I'm glad he's got a sense of humour, she told us, before getting to the essence of her critique, that his offer was superficial, and thin. "Is that it? she asked, adding: "He is behaving like he's still the mayor of Manchester.

He is now the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Burnham wants to project a sense that he gets it - the cost of living pressures so many feel so acutely - and he is getting a move on. But in just these first few days there has been a reminder that life comes at you fast as prime minister.

Firstly, on the domestic front – his intervention on the early release of prisoners in England and Wales, demanding what he calls a "pause", is a case study in the dilemmas of governing: crowded prisons and, so, difficult choices between least worst options – which criminals to free first. Secondly, on the international front – after Burnham renewed America's permission to use British airbases for what are called "defensive" strikes on Iran, Tehran is claiming those bases are now legitimate targets. And, with the conflict in the Middle East escalating, the oil price is spiking again.

Then there are the huge questions that tumble from Burnham's big promises. He has pledged, for instance, "the biggest council house building programme since the post war period. How would this be paid for?

And what does the promise actually mean? It is worth a listen to Matt Chorley's interview with Angela Rayner on BBC Radio 5 Live on precisely this point - the housing secretary isn't able to define when the "post war period" ended and therefore there is no numerical target attached to what appears to be a rather bold promise.