Photo by Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images Burnhamism, as a field of academic research, appears to be in a state of disarray. Those of us who study Andy Burnham have to admit collectively that we do not know some very basic things about Burnhamism, things so basic that the knowledge of them is usually taken for granted by scholars dealing with other texts. These words – or a version of them, without the references to Manchester’s mayor – were actually written about the state of Koranic studies by Fred Donner, a scholar of early Islam. But they apply equally to the mess the media has got itself into in trying to define the political programme of a politician who, I can assure you, having covered his mayoralty for six years, does not have one. This does not mean Burnham is a bad politician, or that he’s some kind of fraud. In fact, I think he’s an unusual talent who has fashioned a form of leadership in Greater Manchester that is unique in modern politics.…