John Healey, who stunned Westminster by resigning as defence secretary just over a month ago over a funding row, has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Andy Burnham’s first major cabinet reshuffle.
The 66-year-old Rawmarsh and Conisbrough MP replaces Rachel Reeves, who had served as chancellor since Labour’s 2024 landslide election win. Healey had clashed with Reeves, pointedly saying in his resignation letter that the Treasury had been “unwilling” to “commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats”.
“John Healey becomes chancellor under Andy Burnham weeks after resigning as defence secretary over defence spending.”
His resignation – which he said came because the government’s much-delayed defence investment plan fell “well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time” – earned plaudits from across the political spectrum for being a resignation on principle. It also hastened Sir Keir Starmer’s departure from Downing Street, coming days before Burnham’s pivotal by-election in Makerfield.
Now Healey is in charge of funding not just defence but every arm of government. Sources told the BBC that Burnham and Healey “have the same outlook” on many of the prime minister’s priorities, including reindustrialisation, the cost-of-living and driving growth across the country.
The softly-spoken Yorkshireman has been on the Labour frontbench almost continuously since 2001. Born in Wakefield in 1960 and educated at Lady Lumley’s Comprehensive School and St Peter’s School in York, he studied social and political science at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Before entering politics he worked as a journalist, briefly editing Parliament’s in-house magazine The House, before becoming a disability rights campaigner and trade union official. He first entered Parliament in Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide as MP for Wentworth, a former mining area north of Sheffield, and retained his seat in 2024 with a majority of 6,908.
His return to government in the most vital job in cabinet after the prime minister is an even bigger surprise than his resignation, given that his name had not been mentioned as a frontrunner in speculation about Burnham’s choice. Burnham also appointed Shabana Mahmood to remain at the Home Office and Ed Miliband to the Foreign Office, according to the Financial Times.