DAILY MAIL COMMENT: After 100 days in Downing Street, what exactly has the PM achieved?
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Even Andy Burnham must realise that a £2 cap on bus fares is hardly the foundation stone for political immortality.
Yet apart from a handful of similarly modest initiatives, Britain has precious little else to show from his first 100 days in Downing Street.
What we have seen is a determined effort to kick major decisions into touch or avoid them entirely. The Prime Minister has refused to commit to the long-held target on defence spending - 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 - and a review into the military budget now looks set to be deferred until next autumn.
Nor, regrettably, is there any sign that he is remotely inclined to tackle the bloated Benefits Street culture - despite the welfare bill exceeding income tax revenue in the last fiscal year.
The PM's strategy on the Channel crisis seems to be largely based on repeating the mantra that small-boat crossings are down (although migrants are still crossing the water in their droves, often in larger vessels). Plans to overhaul adult social care are being put off until the next Parliament, which is unsurprising given the sketchy detail in the original blueprint.
Although Andy Burnham's determination to force us back into Brussels' clammy embrace is deeply troubling, the problems with his premiership are wide-ranging
There was a rare glimpse of progress last week when the Government (belatedly) gave the go-ahead for drilling at the North Sea's Jackdaw gas field. Whether approval for the larger, far more important Rosebank oil field goes ahead remains a moot point.
The only area where Mr Burnham seems ready for action is on the European Union. Only a few short months after telling the Makerfield electorate that he wouldn't try to drag Britain back into the EU, he is now trying to do exactly that. Meanwhile, questions are being raised about his recent gaffes on the issue.
It is just a fortnight since the PM was forced to backtrack on claims that Russia significantly affected the Brexit vote. Now he has been contradicted by No10 after insisting that freedom of movement - a key EU tenet - would need the approval of British voters in a new referendum.
Yet although Mr Burnham's determination to force us back into Brussels' clammy embrace is deeply troubling, the problems with his premiership are wide-ranging.
From his ill-founded nostalgia for the dark days of the 1970s to his blithe assertion that national security 'cannot come at the expense of social security', it becomes clearer by the day that he isn't cut out to make the transition from glorified council boss to leader of a great nation.
Perhaps he will surprise us tomorrow with a Budget that shows vision, ambition and even a smidgin of principle. But from what we have seen over the past 100 days, that is a highly unlikely prospect.
Shameful spending
For the Ministry of Defence to spend £2.7million on a small army of diversity and inclusion staff would seem unnecessary at the best of times.
But when the Armed Forces are starved of resources and equipment in an increasingly dangerous world, it is nothing less than a shameful misuse of state funding under Labour. Little wonder shadow cabinet office minister Mike Wood says: 'This absurd imbalance tells you everything you need to know about Labour's priorities.'
Our brave Services personnel deserve so much better than this ultra-woke nonsense. Talk about lions being led by donkeys.
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