JUST days into his new role as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Liverpool-born MP Andy Burnham made a trip to his former hometown an immediate priority.

Mr Burnham, who grew up in Newton-le-Willows and whose family still live locally, visited the site of the new Museum of Liverpool to see how work is progressing and pledge a further £500,000 from his department for the project.

Alongside Culture Company creative director Phil Redmond, he was given a tour by David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, as he said: “I think I probably have the best job in the Cabinet.”

He said it had been a priority to visit the city as soon as he was appointed Secretary of State. A life-long Evertonian, he later went to Anfield to watch Saturday’s Liverpool match.

Speaking at the Pier Head, he said: “Two days into the job and the only place to be for me was to come to the European Capital of Culture.

“I feel it a privilege that here I am, appointed now in the same year the city of my birth is Capital of Culture.

“The weird thing is my grandfather drove a lorry around these docks for Tate and Lyle for many years, and that this area is coming back to life is just fantastic.

“I’ve seen the regeneration in the North West of culture and the arts and seen towns that were on their knees having new life breathed into them.

“The museum will be a landmark building, one of the finest cultural landmarks in the country, and when it’s built will be a building of world repute and will be a legacy of the Capital of Culture year.”

Phil Redmond said Liverpool can only gain from Mr Burnham’s new role.

He said: “I think it’s great to have him on board. As an Evertonian, he’s got strong cultural and emotional links to the city, so he’ll get it, he’ll understand what Scouse culture is, and I’m really pleased to have him in the job.”

The X-shaped Museum of Liverpool has come in for criticism from those concerned about its location at Pier Head.

Scheduled to be completed later this year and to open in 2010, the £68m building will be the first national museum devoted to the history of a single city.

vickyanderson