Will Andy Burnham choose Ed Miliband or Wes Streeting to be his Chancellor?
It’s safe to say the question of who will become the next Prime Minister appears to have been settled.
It’s safe to say the question of who will become the next Prime Minister appears to have been settled.
Barring a contest, Andy Burnham is almost certain to walk through the door of No 10 next month, becoming the first PM in more than 60 years who wasn’t voted in at the previous election.
Attention is now turning to the people who will make up his top team – and his next moves will be critical.
Burnham will need to pick a Cabinet that is fresh enough to mark a clean break from the Starmer era, but experienced enough that it doesn’t mean starting from scratch on the big issues of the day.
Any controversial choices could also mean he quickly burns through the goodwill of the public. That could be a big problem, as his popularity is a big reason why many in Labour want him to replace Sir Keir.
His biggest decision will be who to appoint as his Chancellor. This will signal to businesses, markets, and the broader country how he seeks to handle the UK economy.
Miliband is one of Andy Burnham’s biggest supporters in the Starmer Cabinet – to an extent that has reportedly put him in the PM’s bad books.
Even before Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election last week, the current Energy Secretary was considered the most likely choice to become Chancellor under the ex-Greater Manchester Mayor.
He has a depth of experience in the Treasury, dating back to his time working as the Chairman of Gordon Brown’s Council of Economic Advisers more than 20 years ago.
However, there has been plenty of briefings against him in recent days, out of concern this pick would mean a sharp shift to the left.
It would also mean a return to an earlier generation of Labour politicians: we’d go from Keir Starmer (elected 2015) and Rachel Reeves (elected 2010) to a pair of MPs who first served in government under Tony Blair.
The former Health Secretary made no secret of his ambitions to win the Labour leadership after he resigned in the wake of the May 7 election results.