LEIGH'S new MP was in the capital this week to start a new career.

No matter what our political leanings are, we should all be behind him. Andy Burnham comes across as a personable young man who has local interests at heart.

He is not an outsider brought in by Labour to contest a safe seat. He is one of us -- a local lad come good.

To his advantage, Mr Burnham has gleaned what should prove invaluable knowledge of our corridors of power in his previous post as a government advisor.

And he has impressed us with his energy. Life at the Journal would have been much easier if everyone involved in the general election had, when requested, supplied the answers as enthusiastically as he. Good luck to Leigh and its MP.