Burnham has made Britain some big promises, and we should all give the man a chance to deliver, writes Andrew Marr

Listening to him this morning, it still did.

Things will go wrong. Words are cheap, though they're important. But actions are much more expensive.

I don't see, for instance, where the funding is going to come from for the biggest council house building programme since the war - great idea though I think it is.

Overall, however, the notion of Number 10 North to drive a national renaissance and a dramatic shift of power and resources to Britain's once great and now neglected towns and cities, is thinking on the scale we need.

And when Burnham talked about the need to change politics, and Westminster being broken, and the need to reach out across parties collaboratively so that there was more problem-solving than point scoring, and indeed the need to let Members of Parliament be authentically themselves, without cracking the whip over them all the time - I think the vast majority of ordinary decent people will agree.

It was just unfortunate that the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, just before Burnham had spoken about reaching out to other parties, launched an ill-judged personal attack on Ed Miliband and predicted a summer of chaos.

The right-wing attack media is already going at Burnham at full pelt, the Messiah without a mandate, the victor of a ruthless coup. Well, he won the vote in Makerfield, and the party he'll lead in Westminster won a general election two years ago.

But no doubt he will give his critics another election at a time of his choosing, not theirs.

And as for a bloodless coup, there's a lot of truth in that, but you have to admit it's been far smoother, friendlier and better organised than anything the Tories achieved.

Today, Andy Burnham made Britain some big promises. He offered us change, and he offered us hope. I'm not overexcited or naive, but I feel a quiet optimism right now that I haven't felt for a very long time.

Let us all, at least, give the man a chance.