Westminster’s capacity to fawn over a new leader pointing vaguely towards Manchester is truly inexhaustible.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a new Prime Minister in possession of a good poll lead must be in want of a northern gimmick.

This week, Andy Burnham—fresh from waving off Sir Keir Starmer and his £10,000 bar tab—has set up shop in "No 10 North". The Guardian’s editorial board is practically hyperventilating with joy over his "upbeat start" and £2 bus fares. It is all terribly, breathlessly exciting.

But we have been here before. On this day in 2019, Jacob Rees-Mogg stood at the despatch box to deliver a masterclass in oily sycophancy for another newly minted premier. Dripping with patrician irony, the then-Leader of the House purred: "Triumph after triumph achieved by this Government, and we have only had our new Prime Minister for 24 hours." The subject of his rapture? Boris Johnson, naturally, and his newly touted Northern Powerhouse.

The rosettes may have swapped from blue to red, but Westminster’s capacity to fawn over a new leader pointing vaguely towards Manchester is truly inexhaustible. Rees-Mogg’s 2019 performance proves that whether the Prime Minister is Boris Johnson or Andy Burnham, the parliamentary honeymoon script is always rigorously adhered to.

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