One of the key traits of a successful politician is the capacity to surprise. Andy Burnham has proved he has that ability in his first big call of the new cabinet. For weeks now, the race for Chancellor has dominated in Westminster. Most pundits backed either Ed Miliband or Shabana Mahmood to take up the post: standard bearers for the soft left and Blue Labour factions in the party, respectively. But Burnham has decided to go for a third option: John Healey, the Defence Secretary who quit Keir Starmer’s government 39 days ago over the failure to increase military expenditure sufficiently. The move will be read as a sign that Burnham is serious about bolstering defence spending and honouring Britain’s international commitments, as he claimed on the steps of Downing Street this morning.
The fact that news did not leak suggests that Burnham has a tightly knit team around him
Healey is widely seen throughout the Labour party as a ’safe pair of hands’. He has spent 29 years in parliament, enjoyed a lengthy spell at the Treasury under Tony Blair and has run a big-spending department too. He is experienced and well-equipped for his new office, having seen both sides of a spending row in government. In previous posts, he has not had the capacity to demonstrate much in the way of creative policy-making. Perhaps that will now change at the Treasury as he looks to inspire Britain’s animal spirits and deliver some desperately needed economic growth. Healey is a former Housing frontbencher, experience which will be brought to bear as he tries to work out how to fund the new government’s planned expansion of social housing.
Burnham’s decision to appoint Healey tells us several things which bode well for his future prospects. First, the fact that news did not leak suggests that he has a tightly knit team around him. Second, that he can be shrewd in navigating the upper echelons of the Labour party and its various prominent factions. Third, that he is genuinely serious about taking the tough decisions put off by successive governments. Healey is a shrewd appointment and will please many in both the Labour movement and defence establishment.
