{"id":698810,"date":"2026-07-18T18:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698810\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:45:07","slug":"burnham-plots-ed-miliband-shake-up-of-foreign-office-as-he-readies-policy-blitz-for-first-day-as-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698810\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham plots Ed Miliband shake-up of Foreign Office as he readies policy blitz for first day as PM"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andy Burnham<\/a> is planning a major shake-up of the Foreign Office, which is expected to include a roadmap to return the UK to spending 0.7 per cent of GDP<\/a> on international aid.<\/p>\n

Senior Labour sources have told The Independent that \u201clieutenants of Andy Burnham<\/a>\u201d have been reaching out to expertise within the party over how to reform the Foreign Office.<\/p>\n

One of the key moves will be to lay out a clear stance on the UK\u2019s involvement in the war in Iran, how much military support to provide for the US and to establish a relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky over Ukraine\u2019s war against Russia.<\/p>\n

There is now a growing belief that energy secretary Ed Miliband<\/a> is going to be handed the role of foreign secretary in Mr Burnham\u2019s government, with explicit permission to prioritise tackling climate goals through the department. <\/p>\n

He will also be seen as a more progressive foreign secretary in changing policy on the Middle East after Mr Burnham recently stated that policy towards the war in Gaza had \u201cnot been good enough\u201d<\/a>, suggesting there will be a tougher line taken on Israel. The move comes as:<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham intends to announce more drilling for oil and gas as he prepares for a policy blitz on his first day as PMClimate change protesters gathered in London to protest against any plans to increase drilling in the North SeaFurther cryptocurrency reform is on the cards with campaigning Labour MP Joe Powell tipped for an anti-corruption jobStarmer loyalists in the cabinet prepare for life on the backbenches\"EdEd Miliband is expected to be asked to reform the Foreign Office (PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

There has been anger in the Labour Party at the way Sir Keir and chancellor Rachel Reeves downgraded international development money to just 0.2 per cent of GDP to help pay for the rising defence budget, without offering a roadmap to restore it to the original target.<\/p>\n

The 0.7 per cent figure was an achievement of Gordon Brown\u2019s government and maintained by David Cameron\u2019s Tory-led government even after the financial crisis. But under Boris Johnson, then Rishi Sunak and finally Sir Keir it was reduced.<\/p>\n

One senior figure noted: \u201cKeir and Rachel broke a manifesto commitment on international aid but they were just not willing to engage with anybody on the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Labour MPs including Commons overseas development committee chair Sarah Champion<\/a> have been lobbying hard for a return to the development commitment. <\/p>\n

Another MP said: \u201cThis was all part of Labour trying to out-reform Reform under Starmer; it is the sort of mean policy Farage advocated. Andy [Burnham] has made it clear we will be \u2018distinctively Labour\u2019 again and restoring development goals and the budget for it will be a big step towards that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Miliband is understood to have been a frontrunner for the chancellor job but has been displaced by home secretary Shabana Mahmood.<\/a><\/p>\n

One source said: \u201cIt looks like Ed is now a lock for the foreign secretary job. That is what is coming out from everyone at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is actually very good news because it means that Andy is serious about reforming the Foreign Office. Ed will put the D for Development back into the FCDO. He will be able to focus on climate goals and build an international alliance to tackle these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Burnham is expected to set out his plans when he takes over as prime minister on Monday, with reports suggesting he could back more drilling in the North Sea (Gareth Fuller\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Even if Mr Miliband loses out to the other name being mentioned for foreign secretary \u2013 his brother David \u2013 the aspiration on international aid would remain. David Miliband is currently president of the International Rescue Committee, and has been pushing for a return to 0.7 per cent.<\/p>\n

Ed Miliband\u2019s special adviser, Polly Billington, has written a piece for the influential New Economics Forum which is feeding into the Burnham policy team, on the need to build international alliances on climate change to bypass Donald Trump\u2019s US, China and Russia.<\/p>\n

The MP for East Thanet wrote: \u201cKey to the UK\u2019s G20 strategy should be reviving and strengthening the Global Clean Power Alliance as a political coalition capable of driving urgent, coordinated action. The coalition should be built around a single guiding principle: protecting vulnerable populations while rapidly reducing all of our dependence on oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mr Powell, a campaigning Labour MP tipped for an anti-corruption ministerial role, is pushing for the UK to tackle money laundering in the City of London harder, as a means of boosting international aid and preventing democracies being undermined by cryptocurrency donations.<\/p>\n

Also writing for the New Economics Forum, he said: \u201cAdvanced and developing economies alike face a looming debt crisis and reduced fiscal space; the Sustainable Development Goals have an estimated funding shortfall of $4tn a year; and investment is needed in the energy transition. Yet it remains far too easy for autocrats and criminals to launder money; that should be part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Powell wants a focus on the \u201copaque\u201d London property market as part of an international effort to tackle the problem, noting that in his own constituency of Kensington and Bayswater, 40 per cent of the foreign-owned property is held in anonymous trusts.<\/p>\n

\"ClimateClimate change activists protest in London against more drilling (Reuters)<\/p>\n

As speculation grows about the make up of Mr Burnham\u2019s cabinet, allies of Angela Rayner have played down suggestions she could be named as health secretary.<\/p>\n

Lucy Powell is tipped to become deputy PM along with getting a government department, possibly culture.<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting, culture secretary Lisa Nandy and education secretary Bridget Phillipson have also been mentioned as options for home secretary.<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham is understood to be planning to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and bringing it back into the Department for Business, where former business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is expected to get his old job back.<\/p>\n

Loyalists of Keir Starmer including business secretary Peter Kyle, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones, deputy PM David Lammy, tech secretary Liz Kendall, and housing secretary Steve Reed are all expected to return to the back benches.<\/p>\n

Manwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has warned Mr Burnham he is in for \u201ca rude awakening\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the BBC\u2019s Laura Kuenssberg to be broadcast on Sunday, she said: \u201cThis is a man who doesn\u2019t want scrutiny, he doesn\u2019t want anyone asking him tough questions, he just wants to be a people-pleaser.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article has been produced as part of The Independent\u2019s Rethinking Global Aid<\/a> project<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[84,208121,5183,59,57,58,50,208122,194261,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-698810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-business","tag-civil-conflict","tag-demonstrations","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-riots","tag-top-picture","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}