Editorial: Andy Burnham is a skilled politician and his wiser instincts need to be applied to Northern Ireland

Andy Burnham became the 59th British prime minister yesterday.​

Some PMs have served in office two or more times, so there have been 73 premierships, and the News Letter has reported on them all (when we were founded in 1737, the first – Robert Walpole – was in Downing Street).

As the world’s oldest English language daily newspaper we have also reported on 11 monarchs (King Charles, whom Mr Burnham met yesterday, is the most recent), and on all 45 men who have been US president (Donald Trump, with whom the new prime minister spoke yesterday, is the latest of those).

We wish Mr Burnham well. He is a skilled politician, not least because he has communication skills that his predecessor Keir Starmer lacked. Sir Keir is a good man whose personality was ill-suited to such a brutal job. He was also weak, not least on Northern Ireland.

The outgoing prime minister was an intelligent man, as is Mr Burnham. But that is no guarantee of success.

There might be hints in his cabinet reshuffle that Mr Burnham is pragmatic. He has pledged to drill in the North Sea and has moved the eco-zealot Ed Miliband, who blocked such a common sense move, out of energy. He has kept Shabana Mahmood, who is tough on immigration, in the vital Home Office.

Mr Burnham has also sacked Hilary Benn as Northern Ireland secretary. This newspaper was highly critical of him at times but we also knew that the province could get much worse in that crucial position. Louise Haigh, who has Mr Burnham’s ear, seems to accept troubling nationalist orthodoxies.

Above all Mr Burnham needs to get tough with Ireland, given its hypocritical and hostile legacy legal action against the UK. Let us hope that the new PM’s political instincts make him well aware that it is a scandal to see ex soldiers in the dock, while Dublin helps protect IRA leaders.