Burnham urged to appoint Miliband as chancellor by soft-left allies

Andy Burnham’s allies on the Labour left are pressing him to make Ed Miliband chancellor, in a move that would reshape the party’s economic direction. The soft-left campaign group Mainstream, whose interim council is backed by Burnham, today called on the new Labour leader to appoint a “progressive chancellor with vision, values and a record of delivering structural change”. While the statement does not name Miliband, insiders confirmed to the NS that the group is clear he should take the Treasury. The demand comes as Labour grapples with internal tensions over its identity, and days after Keir Starmer’s final PMQs, where outgoing Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch delivered a warm tribute to the departing prime minister. “It has to be robust — that is the way politics is done,” Starmer said of her past attacks. But some colleagues fret that Badenoch’s swingeing takedowns expose Labour MPs to extra public risk, after she branded Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson a “spiteful class warrior”. Phillipson has since posed with the phrase on a t-shirt. Meanwhile, old tweets from Labour figures have resurfaced, including David Lammy calling Ann Widdecombe “absolutely poisonous” and a “bigot” in 2019, and Jess Phillips urging readers to vote the “little fascist beast” off Strictly in 2010. Their tone jars with the solemn tributes paid to Widdecombe after last week’s horrific events. As Burnham prepares his cabinet, Mainstream’s call for a broad church — “not a boys’ club” — signals a push to anchor the new leadership firmly on the left.