FTI Consulting UK Public Affairs Snapshot: Who’s who in Burnham’s cabinet?

Prime Minister Andy Burnham made the final appointments to his new Cabinet on Monday night, concluding a prolonged process that saw a dramatic turnover from the Starmer years.

The appointments saw the return to the backbenches of a number of Starmer loyalists, including David Lammy, Darren Jones, Steve Reed, Peter Kyle, Liz Kendall, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Jo Stevens, Hilary Benn, Baroness Chapman and Lord Hermer. Outgoing Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was reportedly offered a more junior role in Cabinet, which she declined.

A handful of Starmer-era Cabinet ministers survived the cull. John Healey, who resigned as Starmer’s Defence Secretary just six weeks ago over concerns about MOD spending, confounded speculation to be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. SW1’s expected candidates for Number 11 – Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood – were instead promoted to the Foreign Office and reappointed at the Home Office, respectively. Other survivors include Yvette Cooper, who left the FCDO for the Health Department; Jonathan Reynolds, who returns to a beefed-up Business Department; and re-appointments for Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, Culture Secretary and fellow Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, and Alan Campbell and Baroness Smith as Commons and Lords leaders respectively. Bridget Phillipson loses education but remains in the Cabinet, retaining the Women and Equalities brief.

Most striking is the arrival of distinctively Burnham-ite figures at the top of government. Louise Haigh will effectively perform the Deputy Prime Minister role as First Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Office Minister – responsible for driving through the Burnham agenda. Labour’s Deputy Leader Lucy Powell replaces Bridget Phillipson at Education. Former DPM Angela Rayner returns to government in her former role as Housing Secretary. Miliband ally Miatta Fahnbulleh became the first 2024 intake MP to be appointed to Cabinet, succeeding her political mentor as Energy Secretary, alongside Burnham back-room fixer Anneliese Midgely, now shepherd to Labour’s 403 MPs as Chief Whip. Other fresh faces in Cabinet include former Asylum Minister Alex Norris as Justice Secretary, Angela Eagle as DEFRA Secretary, Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock, and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant.

Also attending cabinet are Hamish Falconer, replacing Nick Thomas-Symonds as Intergovernmental Relations and European Relations Minister; Attorney General Ellie Reeves; Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds; Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook; and AI Minister Kanishka Narayan.

Burnham’s most significant appointment was undoubtedly John Healey as Chancellor. Healey, who resigned as Starmer’s Defence Secretary in June over the need to increase MOD spending, is a widely respected and largely non-factional figure who was a junior Treasury Minister under Blair and held frontline roles throughout the Brown, Miliband, Corbyn and Starmer leaderships. Seen as more business-friendly than Miliband and an early proponent of the devolution Burnham has built his comeback around, Healey is regarded as ideologically pragmatic though will feel an obligation to meet his own defence spending increase demands, raising questions around tax and spending elsewhere. However Healey’s ‘safe pair of hands’ will remain bound by the Starmer-Reeves fiscal rules – to which Burnham has re-committed – as the new government navigates unprecedentedly high taxation, demands for greater spending, and a squeamishness about cuts on the backbenches.

The departure or demotion of so many figures associated with Labour’s moderate wing, and the elevation of so many soft left figures, confirms expectations that  Burnham hopes to lead a less factionally-dominated, more inclusive government that gives voice to Labour’s soft left. Notable exceptions include Mahmood and McFadden – stalwarts of the Labour right (albeit with slightly differing Blue and New Labour flavours, respectively) – who both have renewed mandates to reform the thorny issues of migration and welfare. The departure of so many moderates with Cabinet experience to the backbenches does risk creating future headaches – as was previewed on Tuesday morning, when Darren Jones queried the costings behind one of the Burnham government’s first announcements within minutes.

The geographic spread of the new Cabinet marks another noteworthy shift. Almost half (twelve) of the Cabinet represent seats in the North of England – notably a number of Northern women, including Haigh, Rayner, Powell, Eagle, Nandy and Midgely. By contrast, only three represent London constituencies, a further two the wider South of England, four represent Midlands seats, and Scotland and Wales combined amount to just three. Indeed, one in five of the new Cabinet hold seats within Burnham’s former fiefdom of Greater Manchester. Intended to reflect the new government’s commitment to “carry power into every postcode in the land”, this new Northern emphasis will be characteristic of the Burnham era and confirms the desire to pursue devolution of power away from Westminster and into the ‘left-behind’ English regions.

Though policy commitments remain limited so far, these appointments have made the trends, direction and ‘vibes’ of the Burnham government clearer. The dominance of Labour’s centrist moderates has ended and the soft left of the party empowered. And with pragmatist John Healey at the Treasury – with little fiscal hinterland beyond support for devolution and more defence spending – the new Prime Minister has left himself with flexibility to pursue economic policy as he wishes. His success may well depend on his ability to steer the government in his chosen direction, rather than being steered by his backbenches – or indeed brought to heel by the markets.