For the man who is almost certain to be Britain's next prime minister, the passing of the Hillsborough Bill on Tuesday represents the governing philosophy he plans to take into Downing Street.
With Andy Burnham likely to be just days away from taking on the job – he has the backing of more than 360 Labour MPs to become leader – he has made it clear that his government will be transparent and accountable.
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, widely known as the Hillsborough Law, creates a “statutory duty of candour”, requiring public officials from police to doctors and civil servants to tell the truth during inquiries.
Following months of negotiations across Whitehall, ministers have dropped a controversial exemption that would have allowed intelligence agency chiefs to opt out of the legislation, although there are safeguards for national security information.
Keir Starmer, the outgoing prime minister, held a meeting with victims campaigners including those from the Hillsborough relatives on Tuesday at Downing St. He recalled his role as director of public prosecutions as he said he wanted reforms like this measure to be his legacy. "I'm going to go from here and stand at the dispatch box in the House of Commons as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and open and shut and then vote on the third reading of the Hillsborough Law is fantastically important to me but most importantly to you because your courage and strength over so many years has been utterly breathtaking," he told the relatives.
For Mr Burnham the legislation is deeply personal as well after years of actively campaigning for the families of the 97 Liverpool supporters killed during the FA Cup semi-final crush at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium in 1989.
Writing in the Liverpool Echo before Tuesday’s third reading, he described the bill as “one step closer to securing the accountability they should never have had to fight so hard to achieve”.
He added that Britain was “one step closer to ending the culture of cover-up and replacing it with one built on honesty, accountability and respect for ordinary people”.
The families’ 37-year campaign had “helped reshape the relationship between the public and the state for generations to come”. Their refusal to accept falsehoods was also a legacy going “far beyond Hillsborough”.
Mr Burnham also reflected on his own political journey, recalling standing on the Kop at Anfield for the 20th Hillsborough memorial service in 2009 as thousands chanted a single word: “Justice”.
“That moment changed me,” he wrote. “It forced me to confront uncomfortable questions about how power operates in our country and why an entire city could spend 20 years telling the truth only to be ignored.”
He argued that the 2016 finding that the victims were unlawfully killed proved that “truth on its own is not enough, without accountability, there can be no justice”.
The Hillsborough Bill has been a defining cause of Mr Burnham’s political career after he introduced the first version of the legislation as an MP almost a decade ago, which was also supported by Mr Starmer.
He has also highlighted other British cover-ups including the infected blood scandal, the Grenfell Tower fire and the Post Office Horizon scandal. These all reflect the same pattern of “institutions protecting themselves instead of the people they exist to serve”.
Quoting the former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones’s description of “the patronising disposition of unaccountable power”, he argued that the Hillsborough Law was an opportunity “to begin dismantling that culture once and for all”.
The principles underpinning the legislation will probably form a central pillar of Mr Burnham’s leadership – alongside his plan to redistribute power to towns and cities – in that government should serve citizens rather than unaccountable institutions.
What could well be a major constitutional reform in Britain is likely to dominate the agenda during Mr Burnham’s first week in office. That should begin on Monday after Mr Starmer returns from watching Sunday’s World Cup final, if England beat Argentina in the semi-final on Wednesday.
