555. Burnham’s Cabinet Purge and the Rough Sleeping Pledge
episodePreviously titled “555. Burnham’s Cabinet Purge and Rough Sleeping Pledge: Will He Succeed?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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How did Andy Burnham assemble his new cabinet and who was sacked first?
Andy Burnham yesterday became the seventh UK prime minister within just over a decade. Surely he has to last longer than his predecessors if Britain is to rediscover its reputation for mature, serious politics. To do so requires two things above all, an agenda that makes life better for people and a team to deliver it. The team is becoming clearer with a pretty brutal purge of Starmer supporters. And the appointment as Chancellor, not Shabana Mahmood, not Ed Miliband, as so many in the media said, but John Healey, whose resignation as Defence Secretary not long ago was a really big blow to Keir Starmer. And though it may yet lack detail, the agenda is becoming a little clearer as well. I, for one, very pleased that his first big pledge was...
was to end rough sleeping, and today we have the promise of a cut to fuel bills. But the truth is, he faces much the same challenges as Keir Starmer did. So will Manchesterism transfer to the whole of the UK? Will the purge backfire? Will he and John Healey get the economy going? And what is Andy Burnham's worldview? This episode is powered by Fuse Energy. Right now, Fuse Energy's tariffs are up to £200 below the Ofgem price cap. Plus, they've just launched a new referral offer that can bring your bill down even further.
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Welcome to The Restless Politics with me, Rory Stewart. And me, Alistair Campbell. So, Rory, we've got a new cabinet, finally. Actually, they were saying on the media that it took a long time. Having been involved in quite a lot of these reshuffles and cabinet appointments, I thought it was done pretty quickly, especially given the brutality of the early stages. Were you surprised how many got the job?
Yeah, I was. You know, it's something that you're right in the heart of and I was very much part of, but maybe not everybody follows. It's a very, very, very weird process. You were saying to me just before we came on that you would say to people, wait by your phone. And they could go on forever. I mean, I remember in... 2015, having been a bit despairing about the reshuffles in 2012, 2014, where I waited by my phone and nothing had happened. 2015, I had left my phone on through the night, and I think it was like a sort of Sunday night that they started the reshuffle. And all I got was sort of telemarketing calls or texts from, I don't know, car companies saying,
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3 chaptersSpeakers
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