Andy Burnham is preparing to appoint his first cabinet next week, and Shabana Mahmood is in poll position to become his chancellor in the Andy Burnham Cabinet. The reported line-up has already drawn criticism inside Labour, with Jon Trickett urging Burnham to replace ministers from Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
Trickett said Burnham must deliver “real change at the top of government” and not just move around ministers who embodied Starmer’s approach. That puts the first appointments under immediate scrutiny before Burnham has even announced them.
Mahmood and the Treasury
The i Paper said Mahmood is currently in poll position for the Treasury role, despite a senior Labour source saying she had previously wanted to stay at the Home Office. The same source said she is “prepared to move wherever helpful”, which leaves room for a move if Burnham settles on her for the post.
That detail matters because the reported choice would put a current Starmer minister at the heart of Burnham’s first cabinet. The source also said Mahmood had already signalled flexibility on where she serves, which is why the Treasury option has stayed live as Burnham shapes the top of his team.
Jon Trickett and Starmer
Trickett’s intervention is aimed at more than one person. He said Burnham should cull ministers from Sir Keir Starmer’s government and should not simply reshuffle figures who stood for the same approach he wants to move beyond.
The tension in the reported line-up is straightforward: Mahmood is the frontrunner for a senior role, yet she is already part of Starmer’s government. Burnham’s first cabinet will therefore be read as a test of whether he is making a clean break or keeping familiar faces in new offices.
Ed Miliband and the Foreign Office
Ed Miliband was the early front-runner for the Treasury, but The i Paper now says he is tipped for a move to the Foreign Office. That would shift the centre of gravity around Burnham’s first appointments before any cabinet list is published.
The question now is whether Burnham follows the reported order of travel and gives Mahmood the Treasury, or uses the first cabinet to show the wider change Trickett wants. A choice on Mahmood would tell Labour MPs whether the new team is being built around continuity or replacement.
