Andy Burnham’s cabinet reshuffle as the new PM is complete, and the result is perhaps the least London-centric cabinet in history, with MPs the North West and Yorkshire dominating and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Greater Manchester heavily represented with 5 MPs in the new cabinet, compared to just two for London.
Among the “Big Four” positions of state – PM, Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary – London is, for the first time in memory, not represented at all, with three new Northern appointments (PM Andy Burnham, Makerfield, Greater Manchester; Chancellor John Healey, Conisborough, South Yorkshire and Ed Miliband, Foreign Secretary, Doncaster North, South Yorkshire) and Midlander and immigration hardliner Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham Ladywood) retaining her spot at the Home Office – an intriguing nod to the party’s right wing in what has generally, as predicted, been a slight shift to the soft left among the new appointments.
Elsewhere, Manchester Central MP and former deputy party leader Lucy Powell takes education, while another former Manchester and former deputy PM Angela Rayner makes a return to cabinet following her departure last year over tax issues that were seized on by opponents and the media. Rayner returns to her housing, communities and local government brief.
READ MORE: Andy Burnham is Prime Minister – is Britain finally shifting north?
Of particular interest to our own industries, Wigan MP Lisa Nandy retains her role as culture secretary (now a useful springboard to PM if Burnham’s career trajectory is any indication), while as rumours had suggested, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is rolled into Business, where Sunderland-born Stalybridge and Hyde (Greater Manchester) MP Jonathan Reynolds takes the brief.
Techies aghast at the demise of DSIT can take some solace from the fact that there is also now a dedicated AI minister, with Welsh MP Kanishka Narayan debuting in the new post, jointly in the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
Perhaps the most confusingly named, but surprisingly powerful behind the scenes roles in cabinet, Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh takes on the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, first secretary of state and Cabinet Office minister. This was once a largely ceremonial role, charged with administering the aforementioned Duchy, but in modern times has become more of an opportunity for PMs to add a close ally in an extra cabinet position, and has previously been held by the likes of Winston Churchill, Alan Milburn and Michael Gove.
The breakdown of the new cabinet in full looks like this:
- North West: 7 (including 5 GM)
- Yorkshire: 4
- North East: 2
- West Mids: 2
- London: 2
- Wales: 2
- South: 2
- East Mids: 1
- Scotland: 1
