Mahmood Set for Chancellor as the Cabinet Takes Shape
Reports say Andy Burnham is set to name the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, as his Chancellor, having chosen her over Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting. Mr Miliband, once the favourite, is now seen as unlikely for the Treasury amid business concern over his energy stance, and Rachel Reeves is reported to be leaving the Chancellorship. No appointments are confirmed, and Mr Burnham is expected to name his cabinet only after he enters Downing Street on Monday.
The Chancellor is the choice that will define a Burnham government, and the reported selection of Mahmood over Miliband is being read as a signal of fiscal caution rather than a lurch, a counterweight to the interventionist instincts of the leader she would serve. Mahmood, who as Home Secretary drove through a tightening of asylum law, is a figure of the party’s disciplined centre, and her name at the Treasury has reportedly steadied nervous markets. The apparent decision to keep Miliband away from the economy, sending him instead towards the Foreign Office, reflects the worry his net-zero and North Sea positions stirred in business. Yet a cautious Chancellor serving a leader who talks of public ownership and will not rule out a wealth tax is a study in tension, and the Budget will be where it is tested. All of it remains reporting until Burnham speaks from No 10. Watch the confirmed appointments after Monday, and how the left responds to the shape of the team.