How Burnham’s Cabinet will shape his policies, according to our experts

Andy Burnham, who became Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in 10 years on Monday, has made the key appointments to his Cabinet. In a surprise move, former defence secretary John Healey has been appointed Chancellor, replacing Rachel Reeves. Ed Miliband or Shabana Mahmood had been widely expected to be given the role. Instead, Miliband, the former energy secretary, will replace Yvette Cooper as Foreign Secretary, while Mahmood will remain as Home Secretary. Cooper has been appointed Health Secretary. Shorts Meanwhile, Louise Haigh, who resigned as transport secretary in 2024 after admitting a fraud conviction involving a mobile phone 10 years earlier, has been promoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office. She was a key advisor to Burnham during his Makerfield by-election campaign and Labour leadership bid. Burnham officially became Prime Minister on Monday afternoon following a meeting with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, where he was instructed to form a government. His reshuffle has seen the sacking of several major players from Sir Keir Starmer’s government, including former chancellor Rachel Reeves, who reportedly turned down a “big job” from Burnham. Others who have lost their jobs include Steve Reed as housing secretary and David Lammy as justice secretary. Chancellor: John Healey Former defence secretary John Healey was the first to arrive at Downing Street and surprised many in Westminster when appointed Chancellor (Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty) Caroline Wheeler, political editor In the end, the smart money was wrong. Westminster had spent days reporting briefings that Shabana Mahmood would land the job of chancellor amid claims Andy Burnham had cooled on appointing Ed Miliband. Instead, it is John Healey – who until last month was defence secretary, and, for a few weeks, a backbencher without a departmental brief – who has been handed the keys to No 11. Few tipped him for the job, but the pairing makes more sense than the surprise suggests. Healey and Burnham are said to share the same instincts: maintaining economic stability and the current fiscal rules, reindustrialisation, devolution, tackling the cost of living crisis and backing British jobs and industry to drive growth. Healey is no stranger to the Treasury. He served as economic secretary and then financial secretary under Gordon Brown for five years in the 2000s, giving him a grounding in fiscal machinery that few of his new Cabinet colleagues can match. He’s also been housing minister and shadow housing secretary, and Burnham has made building more council homes a priority – an area where Healey has long-standing experience, including bringing forces housing back into public ownership as defence secretary. He is well-regarded internationally too, with relationships across Europe, the Middle East and the US. He is not a dynamic figure, nor one closely associated with the party’s progressive wing. That is arguably the point: a safe, trusted pair of hands who won’t spook the bond markets at a fragile moment for the public finances. Expect defence spending to be an early test. Healey quit as defence secretary last month in a very public row over the underfunded Defence Investment Plan, warning it risked leaving the forces less ready and the country less safe. Chancellor Healey, colleagues believe, will now push to fund the settlement he couldn’t secure from outside. Home Secretary: Shabana Mahmood Shabana Mahmood had been widely tipped for Chancellor but will remain in her role as Home Secretary (Photo: Yui Mok/PA) Arj Singh, deputy political editor Shabana Mahmood staying as Home Secretary is a strong signal that Burnham believes a tough approach is needed to immigration, with the Prime Minister perhaps being convinced of the plan while fighting Reform UK to win the Makerfield by-election last month. While Burnham has suggested he is uncomfortable with aspects of Mahmood’s hardline immigration crackdown, particularly applying tougher settlement rules for legal immigrants retrospectively, the Home Secretary was already working on a compromise in this area in the face of a Labour revolt. Mahmood, who wanted to stay at the Home Office, has also possibly been rewarded for moving against Sir Keir Starmer while in Cabinet, helping to pave the way for Burnham. Foreign Secretary: Ed Miliband Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood arrived at Downing Street together. Miliband will now have to make his mark on the world stage (Photo: Reuters/Temilade Adelaja) Caroline Wheeler, political editor Ed Miliband’s allies made little secret of his ambition to become chancellor. For several weeks, sources close to him say he believed the job was effectively his. His aides were less certain, however, amid growing signs that Andy Burnham had cooled on the idea. As markets became increasingly nervous about the prospect of a chancellor from Labour’s left, momentum shifted decisively towards Shabana Mahmood. One source predicted Miliband would “go nuts” if he was denied the role after being led to believe it was his. Missing out on the keys to No 11 is an undeniable setback. Yet, Miliband has instead secured one of the other great offices of state: Foreign Secretary. As one of the Cabinet’s most experienced figures, he brings considerable international credibility to the role. During two years as energy secretary, he built relationships with counterparts around the world and developed the kind of diplomatic profile that translates naturally to the Foreign Office. Whether the appointment proves a soft landing or a consolation prize, Miliband will now have to make his mark on the world stage rather than through the Treasury’s balance sheet. His ambitions to become chancellor are, for now, on hold. In the process, he has also thwarted the hopes of his elder brother David, who was understood to have been eyeing the role himself. Health Secretary: Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper’s appointment as Health Secretary marks her fifth Cabinet post (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty) Jane Merrick, policy editor The Department of Health is getting its third Secretary of State in less than two months with Yvette Cooper appointed to take charge of Labour’s battle to bring down waiting lists and the tricky axing of NHS England. James Murray – who does not yet have a new post, but may be staying in Government in some form – could be forgiven for thinking he would keep his job, after bringing an end to the long-running resident doctors’ strike. Cooper will have to tackle the threat of separate walkouts by consultants, oversee the slashing of the NHS England workforce and continue with the shifts from hospital to community and treatment to prevention that began under Wes Streeting. This is her fifth Cabinet post and she remains one of the great survivors of Labour politics. While the move is a demotion from foreign secretary, Cooper is a loyalist to the Labour cause and will throw herself into the task of ensuring NHS waiting lists are even lower before the next election. Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Louise Haigh Louise Haigh supported Andy Burnham throughout his Makerfield by-election campaign (Photo: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty) Caroline Wheeler, political editor Louise Haigh’s promotion to First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will have surprised almost no one in Westminster. She has been Andy Burnham’s closest lieutenant for months, and now she has the job title, and the office, to match. It’s a striking turnaround. Haigh resigned from Starmer’s cabinet as transport secretary in November 2024, within months of entering it, after details emerged of a past conviction over misreporting a lost phone – an episode allies say she felt she was treated harshly for, having already disclosed it before her appointment. Rather than ending her career, the episode pushed her towards Burnham’s camp. She became a central figure in his campaign for the Makerfield by-election and in the transition operation that has now delivered him Downing Street. As one MP put it simply: “If you want to talk about policies in Andy’s Government you need to talk to Lou Haigh.” That closeness explains the shape of her new brief. As CDL and First Secretary of State – a title previously held by heavy hitters like George Osborne and John Prescott – she’ll run the Cabinet Office and effectively serve as Burnham’s deputy, driving his priorities across Whitehall: more public control of services, tackling the cost of living crisis, and applying his “Makerfield test” to Government policy, judging every decision on whether it works for towns like the one that returned him to Parliament. Running “No 10 North” and working alongside the housing and communities department, she’s also expected to lead on what Burnham has billed as the biggest rebalancing of power in a generation, pushing devolution further and faster. Work and Pensions Secretary: Pat McFadden Pat McFadden will remain in his current post as Work and Pensions Secretary (Photo: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty) Caroline Wheeler, political editor Amid a reshuffle that has upended much of the top table, one appointment barely raised an eyebrow: Pat McFadden remains exactly where he is as Work and Pensions Secretary. That continuity is a signal in itself. McFadden is clearly regarded by the Prime Minister as someone delivering results. He is Westminster’s model of a safe pair of hands: a former Blair-era special adviser who has served as MP for Wolverhampton South East since 2005. During the first year of the last government, he was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, running the Cabinet Office engine room with such authority that he was often dubbed the government’s unofficial deputy prime minister. Calm, cautious and unshowy, McFadden was moved to the Department for Work and Pensions a year ago with an explicit brief to cut welfare spending and get more people into work – a mission that has become increasingly central to Labour’s economic strategy. Burnham made clear on the steps of Downing Street that supporting young people is a personal priority, and it is understood that he has been impressed by McFadden’s plans to steer them towards work, apprenticeships and education. The two are said to have discussed wider welfare reforms aimed at giving struggling young people a route into employment rather than long-term benefit dependency. Keeping McFadden in post suggests the direction of travel at the DWP will remain unchanged: continued pressure on the welfare bill, a sharper focus on skills and job readiness and a renewed emphasis on apprenticeships as a pathway out of economic inactivity. For a Government keen to demonstrate early delivery, retaining the architect of the current approach rather than starting again looks like a deliberate bet on momentum over reinvention.