Now the group \u2013 at the centre of which are 11 former cabinet ministers \u2013 are considering how to cooperate in the future, whether in supporting the government of Andy Burnham<\/a> or, occasionally, pointing out where it is going wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of anger at the party,\u201d said one person who was there. \u201cThere were some decent, competent people who seemed to be losing their jobs simply because they did not call for Keir Starmer to quit.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Starmer\u2019s biggest problems in government was that he did not have an identifiable faction of people who were willing to defend him at all costs \u2013 a symptom of both his late entry into politics and of his relative lack of ideology.<\/p>\n But many of those whom Burnham sacked or demoted after entering office did have one thing in common: they were close to the former prime minister and had not called for him to resign.<\/p>\n They included the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who turned down the chance to be education secretary; the prime minister\u2019s chief secretary, Darren Jones; the attorney general and longtime Starmer friend, Richard Hermer, and the housing secretary, Steve Reed.<\/p>\n Many had been expected to lose their jobs as Burnham made space for his own allies. But others were more of a surprise. Nick Thomas-Symonds was ousted from his position as chief negotiator with the EU, Hilary Benn lost his job as Northern Ireland secretary, and at a more junior level, Alison Levitt, who worked with Starmer at the Crown Prosecution Service, was sacked from the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n Two people who previously worked at the heart of Starmer\u2019s office in opposition, Jenny Chapman and Chris Ward, both lost their positions.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously Andy was always going to bring his own people in,\u201d one Starmer ally said, \u201cbut the fact that he kept in everyone who called for Keir to go and ousted everyone who didn\u2019t feels very deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n Some close to Starmer believe Darren Jones (pictured) was wrong to question Burnham in such a public way. Photograph: Thomas Krych\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Burnham has said his cabinet \u201creflects the party, the country, all backgrounds\u201d, and has promised to take a \u201cone-team approach\u201d within the Labour<\/a> party.<\/p>\n Guardian analysis shows<\/a> his first cabinet has a better gender balance than any other in history, although it is more privately educated than Starmer\u2019s and less ethnically diverse than Rishi Sunak\u2019s.<\/p>\n Now Starmer\u2019s former ministers and advisers are thinking about how they can best contribute to the Labour party from outside the government. Jones showed one possible route on Tuesday morning when he publicly pointed out the flaws in Burnham\u2019s plan to scrap the government\u2019s digital ID scheme to pay for a cut in VAT on electricity bills.<\/p>\n \u201cGood news that VAT will be cut on electricity bills. It\u2019s a simple way for families to save a few quid, and to mechanically help to keep inflation that little bit lower,\u201d he posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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