Andy Burnham has begun assembling his Cabinet after succeeding Keir Starmer as British Prime Minister.
Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in just 10 years moved rapidly to take command of the government and establish his new administration.
His premiership formally began with an audience with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, followed by his first address as Prime Minister outside No 10.
Mr Burnham then turned immediately to the task of appointing his Cabinet.
John Healey – Chancellor
A veteran of Labour’s frontbench, John Healey served in the Blair and Brown governments before holding posts in the shadow cabinets of Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. Keir Starmer later appointed him shadow defence secretary, and he became defence secretary after Labour’s 2024 general election victory.
John Healey arrives in Downing Street to be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer
Mr Healey now takes charge of the Treasury, the department at the centre of the dispute that prompted his departure from government in June. His surprise resignation as defence secretary followed a row over increased defence spending and became a pivotal moment in Mr Starmer’s fall from power.
A source in Mr Burnham’s new administration said Mr Healey secured the post because he is a trusted, experienced Labour figure whose political outlook closely matches that of the new Prime Minister.
Ed Miliband – Foreign Secretary
A smiling Ed Miliband greets the assembled media outside No 10
Tabloids branded him “Red Ed” during his years as Labour leader, while awkward photographs of him eating a bacon sandwich dominated coverage before the 2015 general election. Mr Miliband returned to frontline politics after the Corbyn era and served as energy secretary in Mr Starmer’s government following Labour’s 2024 election win, becoming a leading force behind its net zero programme.
He now becomes Foreign Secretary, serving in effect as Britain’s chief diplomat. Mr Miliband is understood to have won the appointment because of his international leadership experience and his record of negotiating with governments around the world while energy secretary.
Shabana Mahmood – Home Secretary
Shabana Mahmood remains as Britain’s Home Secretary
Shabana Mahmood stays at the Home Office under Mr Burnham, having led the government’s push for tighter migration controls. Labour’s efforts against people-smuggling gangs have helped reduce Channel crossings, but pressure from backbench MPs to ease new migration restrictions could create an early point of tension between Ms Mahmood and the new Prime Minister.
An Oxford-educated former barrister, Ms Mahmood was justice secretary when Labour returned to power before moving to the Home Office. She became one of the first Muslim women elected to the Commons when she won Birmingham Ladywood in 2010.
Louise Haigh – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and First Secretary of State
Louise Haigh was dubbed part of a group of ‘northern power women’
Louise Haigh played a central role in Mr Burnham’s route back to Westminster and into Downing Street. She was described as one of the “northern power women” who masterminded his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election.
She has accused Mr Starmer’s No 10 operation of fostering a boys’ club culture after she was forced to resign as transport secretary over a historic criminal offence. The case arose from her incorrectly telling police that a work mobile phone had been stolen in 2013.
Ms Haigh is expected to push Mr Burnham’s priorities through the Whitehall machinery, including his devolution programme and proposals to confront the cost-of-living crisis.
Yvette Cooper – Health Secretary
Yvette Cooper also served in the Blair and Brown governments
Yvette Cooper, who held the home and foreign secretary posts under Keir Starmer, has been moved to the Cabinet role responsible for health and social care. Some Westminster observers will view the switch as a demotion from one of the four “great offices of state”.
Once regarded as a rising New Labour star, she served alongside Mr Burnham in the Blair and Brown governments before Jeremy Corbyn consigned her to the backbenches.
Ms Cooper has now been handed the formidable task of reforming social care, an issue Mr Burnham has identified as a central priority of his premiership.
Pat McFadden – Work and Pensions Secretary
Glasgown-born Pat McFadden is a long-time Labour man
Veteran frontbencher Pat McFadden remains in charge of welfare spending and the state pension. Widely regarded as a loyal supporter of Mr Starmer, he was sometimes labelled “the real deputy prime minister” while serving as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Born in Glasgow to Irish-speaking parents from Donegal, Mr McFadden is a lifelong Labour figure who helped shape the party’s direction before the election. Quiet and serious, he has done much of his work away from public view, although the party frequently deploys him on morning broadcast rounds to deliver and defend its message.
Angela Rayner – Housing Secretary
Angela Rayner has championed workers rights
Once known as Labour’s Red Queen, Angela Rayner returns to the government front line as Housing Secretary. She resigned from the same post in Mr Starmer’s Cabinet, along with her positions as Labour deputy leader and deputy prime minister, amid controversy over her tax affairs last year. The Ashton-under-Lyne MP has since been cleared of wrongdoing by HMRC.
Her meeting with Mr Burnham in Greater Manchester earlier this year was interpreted as a sign that she was prepared to support his campaign for No 10. A self-described socialist, Ms Rayner used her previous Cabinet role to champion Labour’s workers’ rights package.
Jonathan Reynolds – Business Secretary
Jonathan Reynolds is chairman of Christians on the Left
Jonathan Reynolds returns as Business Secretary, the job he held when Labour first entered government before being shifted sideways to serve as the party’s chief whip. The department appears considerably more powerful than during his first stint, with science and technology now included in its responsibilities.
After Labour’s 2024 election victory, Mr Reynolds worked alongside Rachel Reeves at the forefront of efforts to redefine the party’s relationship with the City. The chairman of Christians on the Left has said his faith is deeply entwined with his politics. Addressing the Commons in 2013, he said he would support equal marriage “because I am a Christian, not in spite of it”.
Lucy Powell – Education Secretary
Lucy Powell helped on Andy Burnham’s by-election campaign
Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell held several posts in Mr Starmer’s top team and remains Labour’s deputy leader, a position she took after Angela Rayner withdrew from frontline politics.
Labour members backed Ms Powell as their preferred candidate for the role, choosing her over Starmer ally Bridget Phillipson.
She was also among the first Labour MPs to assist Mr Burnham’s campaign to re-enter Parliament through the Makerfield by-election.
Anneliese Midgley – Chief Whip
Anneliese Midgley is a close ally of Andy Burnham
Anneliese Midgley joins the Cabinet as Chief Whip, becoming the government’s principal parliamentary enforcer. The job may operate differently under Mr Burnham, however, given his publicly stated dislike of the whipping system used to keep MPs voting in line with the government.
Ms Midgley is regarded as a close Burnham ally and was one of the “northern power women” he praised following his Makerfield by-election victory. She later accompanied him into the House of Commons when he was sworn in as an MP.
Bridget Phillipson – Women and Equalities minister
Bridget Phillipson pictured as she arrived in Downing Street
Ms Phillipson, a close ally of Keir Starmer, has been removed as education secretary but retains her position as Minister for Women and Equalities and will attend Cabinet. Under Mr Starmer, she oversaw fiercely debated changes to Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance concerning trans people.
Raised in a struggling single-parent household, Ms Phillipson has said she was nevertheless far from the least fortunate child in her class. That experience informed her work in education, where she set out Labour’s ambition to break the “class ceiling” and dismantle barriers facing children from less advantaged backgrounds.
Lisa Nandy – Culture Secretary
Lisa Nandy ran for Labour leadership after the 2019 general election
Lisa Nandy keeps her position as Culture Secretary and is a close ally of the new Prime Minister. She was regarded as something of an outsider in Mr Starmer’s Cabinet, while her Wigan constituency in Greater Manchester borders Mr Burnham’s seat in Makerfield.
Following Labour’s defeat at the 2019 general election, Ms Nandy entered the contest to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as party leader, eventually finishing third behind Mr Starmer.
During Labour’s years in opposition, Mr Starmer moved her from shadow foreign secretary to shadow levelling up secretary and later to shadow cabinet minister for international development.
Wes Streeting – Defence Secretary
Wes Streeting was briefly cast as a rival to Andy Burnham
Wes Streeting takes over as Defence Secretary after briefly being viewed as Mr Burnham’s most serious potential challenger. He ruled himself out of the Labour leadership race shortly after Mr Starmer announced that he would resign.
Mr Streeting had repeatedly maintained that he possessed the 81 nominations needed to launch a leadership campaign and spent the weeks following his government resignation laying out his political case.
He quit as Health Secretary in May, telling Mr Starmer in his resignation letter that “it is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”. Days later, he told reporters he intended to stand in the contest to replace him.
Alex Norris – Justice Secretary
Alex Norris is Britain’s new justice minister
Alex Norris becomes Justice Secretary after previously serving as Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum.
Earlier this month, Mr Norris said “all options are on the table” over the possible deportation of Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed following his release from prison.
Angela Eagle – Environment Secretary
Angela Eagle has been MP for Wallasey since 1992
Angela Eagle served under Gordon Brown as Minister of State for Pensions and Ageing Society between June 2009 and May 2010.
She launched a leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn in July 2016 but pulled out eight days later, clearing the way for Owen Smith to contest the leadership.
Ms Eagle has represented Wallasey in Merseyside as its MP since 1992.
Miatta Fahnbulleh – Energy Secretary
Miatta Fahnbulleh is considered to be a member of Andy Burnham’s inner circle
Miatta Fahnbulleh, who resigned as a housing minister earlier this year in protest at Keir Starmer’s leadership, has since advised Mr Burnham and helped develop the substance of his policy programme.
She is widely regarded as a member of Mr Burnham’s inner circle.
Ms Fahnbulleh previously worked as a parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and is also considered a close ally of Ed Miliband.
Ellie Reeves – Attorney General
Ellie Reeves previously served as chair of the Labour Party
Ellie Reeves, the sister of former chancellor Rachel Reeves, has held the position of Solicitor General since September 2025.
A former barrister, she has also chaired the Labour Party and served in opposition as shadow solicitor general and shadow minister for prisons and probation.
Heidi Alexander – Transport Secretary
Heidi Alexander remains as transport minister
Heidi Alexander, the MP for Swindon South, remains Transport Secretary, continuing in the job she has held since November 2024.
She served with Andy Burnham in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet before Jeremy Corbyn appointed her shadow health secretary in 2015.
After returning to Parliament at the 2024 general election, Ms Alexander briefly held the justice portfolio before being transferred to transport.
Chris Bryant – Northern Ireland Secretary
Chris Bryant takes over from Hilary Benn in Northern Ireland
The former Anglican priest has represented Rhondda and Ogmore, and previously Rhondda, in Wales since 2001.
Earlier this month, Chris Bryant said ministers were “actively considering” banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements, although he warned of difficulties in establishing where individual goods originated.
Mr Bryant previously served as Minister of State for Trade and earlier this year called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor “a rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest, which he said he served, and his own private interest”.
Douglas Alexander – Secretary of State for Scotland
Douglas Alexander stays on as Scottish Secretary
Douglas Alexander has been reappointed Secretary of State for Scotland, having previously served as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, transport secretary and international development secretary in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said relations with Westminster had worsened over the past year and signalled that he did not want Mr Alexander restored to the Scotland post in Mr Burnham’s administration.
Last month, Mr Alexander acknowledged an “oversight” after failing for a year and a half to declare that he had met Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm.
Stephen Kinnock – Wales Secretary
Stephen Kinnock is the son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock
Stephen Kinnock succeeds Jo Stevens as Welsh Secretary after she spent two years in the role.
Mr Kinnock is the son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and the husband of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former prime minister of Denmark.
He previously served as Care Minister during Keir Starmer’s premiership.
