Burnham to Name His Cabinet on Monday, With Mahmood Tipped for No 11
Andy Burnham will appoint his Cabinet on Monday, hours after accepting the King’s invitation to form a government. Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, is reported to be his choice as Chancellor, with Ed Miliband — the early favourite and a key ally — expected to move to the Foreign Office instead. Nothing is confirmed until the appointments are announced.
“I am finalising those decisions, and I will come to conclusions very shortly, and then I will announce those on Monday,” Mr Burnham said. The Financial Times reported the Mahmood appointment citing three people briefed on it, one describing it as “nailed down”. Handing the Treasury to a figure on Labour’s right, with no economics brief anywhere on her ministerial record, would be read in the City as a deliberate reassurance and by the party’s left as a slight to Mr Miliband. It also removes the author of the immigration reforms from the Home Office. Watch whether the fiscal rules survive the first fortnight intact.