Ellwood advocates for a "stability alliance" of middle-ranking powers focused on early conflict prevention.
Burnham's skill as a mayor in convening alliances of the like-minded aligns with this agenda. However, the question remains how far to go in confronting Trump.
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The case for engagement has always been that lives depend on it: Ukraine needs US help, Europe needs time to re-arm, and Britain relies on Washington for its nuclear deterrent and intelligence.
But the threat to Greenland has convinced many European leaders that change is necessary.
Ukraine now needs less US assistance, having built up its own defense manufacturing, and the EU pays for weapons Washington supplies.
Trump, meanwhile, praises Ukraine's drone strikes when they succeed.
Starmer's grovelling trips to Washington bought time for Ukraine, but Britain wasted that grace period by failing to make a public case for defense spending.
Burnham inherits this mess alongside momentous choices over the special relationship.
If he means to spend less time on foreign affairs, Burnham will need an extraordinary foreign secretary.
David Miliband, who held the job under Gordon Brown, is visibly auditioning.
But Burnham must also master the art of titration: measuring each policy shift or gesture to cause the desired reaction without overreach.
Assertive enough on Gaza not to seem morally complicit, yet without denying Israel's right to self-defense. Not too close to Trump, but just close enough.
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Each move carries a hair's breadth between success and failure that future generations may bitterly regret.
