It’s the hope that kills you – so fingers crossed for Andy Burnham | Zoe Williams

World Cup victory for England next week could raise expectations the likely new prime minister can’t live up to Andy Burnham yesterday got himself clear of the magic number – the 323 Labour MPs who had to support him to make any leadership challenge mathematically impossible. Half a week had gone by in limbo, his endorsements standing at 322, everyone knowing he was the next prime minister, nobody able to call it anything more than “likely”. What were those last MPs waiting for? Maybe they were…