Ed Miliband has been moved out of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and into the role of Foreign Secretary – a move seen as a ‘consolation prize’ after John Healey was made Chancellor by Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The Mail has more.
Andy Burnham made John Healey Chancellor tonight in a shock snub to Ed Miliband and the Labour Left.
The new PM has installed the former defence secretary in the key post despite weeks of speculation that it was between Miliband and Shabana Mahmood.
Miliband instead gets the consolation prize of the Foreign Office, while Mahmood remains Home Secretary.
Rumours had been swirling that Healey was set for a comeback after quitting Keir Starmer’s administration, but few expected him to get the nod for No. 11.
Meanwhile, Louise Haigh has become Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and First Secretary of State, effectively making her the second most powerful person in Cabinet.
The new PM has been wielding the axe after admitting in his first speech to the country that Labour ‘needs to be better’.
Earlier Rachel Reeves acknowledged defeat in her battle to cling on to the Treasury under Burnham. She is understood to have turned down another job in Government.
Starmer loyalists David Lammy, Steve Reed, Peter Kyle, Liz Kendall, Baroness Chapman and Attorney General Lord Hermer have also been ousted so far. Darren Jones announced he had been fired by phone, and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn is leaving.
Reed said he was “disappointed” to be going from his Housing Secretary role, and swiped that he “hoped those who did not show loyalty to Keir will now show it to you”. Outgoing deputy PM Lammy bemoaned that he “would have been proud to continue serving in Cabinet”.
The Left has been pushing hard for Miliband to be Chancellor, despite alarm from businesses and moderates. But after the Net Zero Secretary walked into No. 10 arm-in-arm with Mahmood, Healey was unveiled by No. 10 tonight.
No. 10 sources said Burnham wanted an “experienced, trusted” figure and Healey shared the PM’s outlook “on the need to maintain economic stability and the current fiscal rules”. They also agree on “reindustrialisation, devolution, helping people with the cost-of-living crisis and backing British jobs and British industry to drive growth across the country”.
One Labour veteran told the Daily Mail it was a “smart” move, and Burnham could now tell Healey: “You wanted the money for defence? Great. Go find it.”
Healey served as a Treasury minister under Tony Blair, and is thought to have long harboured ambitions to be Chancellor.
Miliband dropped a broad hint that he will be leaving the Department for Energy and Net Zero in a speech to staff this morning – although he insisted he did not know what decisions Burnham had made.
Meanwhile, the fates of big beasts such as Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting and Yvette Cooper are due to be decided.
The sackings are under way after Burnham used his Downing Street debut to hint at a lurch to the Left.
A shrewd move, perhaps, to prise the Net Zero agenda from the cold, vice-like grip of the Mad One – by offering him a promotion to one of the Great Offices of State.
Worth reading in full.
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John Healey’s resignation was an important final shove in getting Starmer out. And now he’s got the top (non PM) job.
Was he promised it weeks ago?
Since (unfortunately) Mad Miliband couldn’t be sacked, appointing him Foreign Secretary looks relatively sensible.
At least he’ll be out of the country most of the time.
The question is whether you want the rest of the world thinking that he’s a typical British person…
I love the irony of appointing Angela Rayner as Housing Secretary. Will she be advising us on how to evade stamp duty etc.?
He is shuffling deck chairs on the titanic.
I see football shirt boy has called for a ‘national sense of unity’. Well you shove that where the sun don’t shine as far as I am concerned, especially as he has failed to mention the I word at all so far which means he will let the colonisation of parts of this country continue and the rape gangs prosper.
Good to see that bastard hermer sacked…
Yes, but imprisoned would be better still.
Yawn
So far it’s slightly less bad than it could of been.
If Burnham is serious about fast tracking new drilling in the North Sea getting a new minister for Energy and Net Zero makes sense as they’re the one who has to sign off new licences.
Mahmood staying as home secretary is OK as she seemed to be taking a slighter tougher line on immigration that most Liebour clowns. Obviously it’s nowhere near tough enough but probably the best that can be hoped for under Liebour.
One wonders how much it can possibly matter what post these people hold if they can be shuffled around like cards from one post to the other. Matter to ordinary people, I mean. Obviously it matters a lot to them given they spend their careers in pursuit of these posts.
You certainly couldn’t run a company like that. Appoint your Finance Director to head of Operations, your Head of HR to Head of Marketing. You’d screw up the company. So, clearly what these politicians do can’t be that critical to the running of anything.
Indeed. It’s a pantomime. Anyway they are socialists so we know what they are going to do. Higher taxes, less freedom, more laws, more immigrants, more state intervention into everything.
So… same direction of travel since WW2 basically with the odd temporary blip.
The big difference in governments c.f normal companies is the split between politicians that come and go, and the Permanent Secretaries, or the Borough Solicitor etc. It can depend on how flexible the professionals are when someone new comes in as the (political) top dog.
Yeah, I know how the system is designed.
But designed for what and to work how? I know, but I’m not sire the good people at the DS do, or anyone else who thinks that Miliband being energy secretary makes any difference to policy.
We had NetZero before Moliband. We’ll have it after him. IF it ever changes, it won’t be because of the energy secretary or any decision he/she makes.
The people in those posts are stooges, sock puppets, part of a pantomime to make a gullible electorate think they’re collectively deciding what happens.
Don’t be surprised. The technical entrepreneurial company I built was acquire by an EU multinational over 10 yrs ago. I later found out the board were composed of the CEO’s former buddies from their National team in some obscure discipline. Yes they played musical chairs from time to time with their board functions loosely related to their talents. I learned some valuable lessons one of which was that corporations carry such inertia they can get away with behaviour that would sink a lean independent. And another was that the Govt is the biggest corporation Alf all.
I think if you are really smart, humble, hardworking, open minded, curious, a good judge of character and with an excellent bullshit detector then you can make a positive contribution in a range of leadership roles provided the area of activity is not hopelessly esoteric and a mystery to you. Most politicians don’t qualify. It’s a tricky one though – politicians are accountable but not experts, experts are not accountable. My solution is for the state to do much less. Where is RW when you need a counter argument?
Pack of cards is a good analogy. Sometimes in a game you get a really crap hand and it doesn’t matter how you move them around they’re still crap. All you can do is suck it, wait for the next hand and hope it’s better.
That is a really interesting comment, I hadn’t thought of it like that.
His past comments about important allies will be every bit as embarrassing as were Lammy’s. Will he get security clearance to see incoming telegrams?
Didn’t Trump refer to people buying Chinese windmills as “stupid” or “dumb” or something? I look forward to the twat visiting Washington and getting the piss taken out of him by Trump and Vance.
I wish I could be there and join in.
The outs look like a good set of sackings although Phillipson is noticeable by her absence. Its the ‘ins’ that will confirm the success or otherwise (it will be ‘otherwise’) of the reshuffle.
Just installing a new shower of sh1te.
Miliband out of energy is good, but still not seen who’s replacing him, another zealot we don’t need.