Streeting — who has long been a pro-EU voice within his party — backed Burnham’s drive to reopen the conversation about membership.
He said the British public is “perfectly capable of engaging with complicated arguments, if they’ve got a political leader brave enough to have that conversation with them.”
“And I do think … he is an extraordinary political communicator,” the defense secretary said of Burnham. “And the way in which he has a conversation with the public is unlike anything I’ve seen before.
“Even Tony Blair, who was such a generational political leader with a gift for communication — he would confront the public with arguments — but I don’t think even Tony Blair had Andy Burnham’s conversational style, which the public warm to.”
Streeting reiterated that he is personally in favor of rejoining the EU: “My position on the EU was clear in 2016. It was clear when I had a tilt at the leadership, and I haven’t changed my view.”
However, he warned that renegotiating Britain’s relationship — including rejoining — would not be simple. “Leaving was a very complicated process, and rejoining would also be a very complicated process,” he added.