Sir Keir Starmer met Andy Burnham for talks on Tuesday morning, the first time the pair have sat down since Burnham won last week’s Makerfield by-election — a victory that has all but anointed him as the next prime minister.
The hour-long meeting, first reported in the Times, came as Starmer authorised access talks with the civil service for prospective Labour leadership candidates, allowing them to prepare for government before formal nominations close on 16 July. The outgoing PM’s spokesman said the talks would begin “as soon as possible” and focus on “formation of government and key policy priorities”, including security briefings.
“Starmer meets Burnham as Labour braces for leadership contest; Burnham likely to become PM by 17 July.”
Burnham is the only declared candidate so far. If no challenger emerges, he could become prime minister as early as 17 July. One ally told the BBC that Burnham is expected to offer Chancellor Rachel Reeves a “junior or mid-level cabinet position”, saying: “Andy really respects Rachel and I’m confident he’ll want her in his top team.” A Burnham spokesperson said no decisions had been made; Reeves’s team has been contacted for comment. Names mooted to replace Reeves as chancellor include Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting, John Healey and Yvette Cooper.
Two close allies of Burnham also said he plans to appoint former Labour culture secretary James Purnell as his Downing Street chief of staff. Purnell served under Gordon Brown and later worked as a senior BBC executive and chief executive of lobbying firm Flint Global.
But the smooth path to power has unsettled some Labour MPs. According to Sky News, MPs fear a backlash from local members who want a leadership contest rather than a “coronation” of Burnham. The pressure comes as Starmer, who announced he would stand down after losing the support of Labour MPs, told his cabinet on Tuesday morning that he wanted whoever became the next prime minister to succeed, his spokesman said.
UnHerd described Burnham’s by-election victory as “reanimating the corpse of Labour”, noting he won 54% of the vote with a “blokey but unthreatening, common-sense progressivism”. In his victory speech, Burnham called it Labour’s “final chance to change”. For now, the party appears to be his — whether by contest or coronation.