What we witnessed yesterday on the Downing Street step was deeply troubling to those who care about our democracy.

In the space of just a few short weeks, Andy Burnham has effectively crowbarred his way into No10 without anyone even trying to block his path.

He has arrived there unelected, unopposed and with no mandate from the public whatsoever but for a by-election victory in Makerfield.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country has been left scratching its head in bewilderment as it faces yet another handover of power to someone it never asked for, nor, frankly, knows very much about politically at all.

Considering this is someone who claims he wants to bring about the biggest change in our politics for 40 years, this represents a very disturbing state of affairs indeed.

Make no mistake, this is a coup, plain and simple. There must be a General Election immediately.

Worryingly, what few words Burnham did say before he disappeared behind that famous black door indicate his time in office promises to be every bit as disastrous as Sir Keir Starmer's, if not worse.

Forgive me if I missed it, but I detected absolutely nothing in that short, rather dull speech which pointed toward any discernible plan for tackling the major issues facing this country.

In the space of just a few short weeks, Andy Burnham has effectively crowbarred his way into No10 without anyone even trying to block his path

Instead, all I heard was a lot of Left‑wing murmurings that will set teacups rattling not just in boardrooms across the City of London, but in hard-working households up and down the country.

I heard phrases about a 'new political model and a new economic model' and what he described as a 'preventative State'.

I'm sorry, but that sounded an awful lot like more State control, more spending and, yes, even higher taxes.

In other words, expect the Burnham administration to be more of the same as the previous government – but hiked even further to the Left.

We heard nothing, for example, about what he plans to do about immigration, one of voters' most pressing concerns.

We are already dealing with the consequences of unprecedented, unsustainable mass migration that has broken our infrastructure, overwhelmed our GP surgeries and caused a severe housing crisis.

Yet everything we have heard from the Burnham camp suggests that, rather than crack down on the vast numbers flooding into our country, the floodgates will opened even wider. Our new Prime Minister is expected to water down Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposals to overhaul the UK's Indefinite Leave to Remain rules in order to placate the soft-Left MPs responsible for putting him in No10.

This is a total abdication of duty. Ordinary people are crying out for a government that will secure our borders and bring numbers down to manageable levels.

Mr Burnham is welcomed by staff as he arrives at No10 with his wife Marie-France van Heel

Instead, Burnham offers a continuation of the open-door policy that has fundamentally transformed British society without the consent of its people.

And what of the economic self-harm of Labour's energy policy, which has left households with higher bills and Britain reliant on importing energy from abroad?

Burnham's deputy Lucy Powell has already announced that Labour's total ban on any new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea will stay in place. This is an act of sheer madness driven entirely by eco-zealotry.

We are sitting on vast reserves of natural resources that could guarantee British energy security for decades, lower bills for hard-pressed families and create thousands of well-paid jobs.

Instead, the Burnham administration prefers to bow the knee to the radical green lobby. By ruling out further exploration in the North Sea, they aren't stopping the world from using oil and gas. They are simply ensuring that Britain imports it, often from hostile regimes with far lower environmental standards than our own.

That is both economically illiterate and strategically dangerous. On top of that, it's a direct betrayal of the industrial working class Burnham claims to represent.

This is the reality of a Burnham premiership. Beneath the veneer of that northern charm lies the same calamitous economic policies of the 1970s which brought Britain to its knees.

Well, I am old enough to remember the 1970s. I suspect many Mail readers do too. It was a miserable time for this country which I have no desire to revisit.

My advice to Mr Burnham would be to enjoy those highly choreographed scenes of adulation which greeted his arrival in Downing Street yesterday while they last.

Once voters begin to feel the full force of his socialist agenda, I confidently predict his love affair with his supporters will sour quicker than one of Zsa Zsa Gabor's ill‑fated romances.

Let's be clear. Andy Burnham was not even an MP until a month ago. That renders Labour's 2024 manifesto completely and utterly meaningless.

If he is so hellbent on bringing about the sort of radical changes he thinks the country requires, he must first seek a mandate from the British people. That means calling a General Election. Right this very minute.