Burnham ministry

Following Burnham's appointment as Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, he began to form his cabinet, which first met on 21 July. He completed his ministerial appointments on 23 July.^[1] The initial appointments resulted in major cabinet changes, featuring a significant removal of close Starmer allies, while returning and rewarding those contributing to his downfall. Key departures from the previous ministry included Rachel Reeves, who was removed as Chancellor after reportedly turning down an alternative role, David Lammy, who was dismissed as Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, Business Secretary Peter Kyle, Housing Secretary Steve Reed, Attorney General Lord Hermer, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs Darren Jones, and Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, whose department was dissolved. 15 were dismissed from the cabinet, the most in a transition within the same party since Boris Johnson's first cabinet.^[2]

Following the major dismissals, Burnham began selecting the senior members of his government, making many high-profile appointments and retentions. John Healey made a surprise return to government as Chancellor of the Exchequer, while Ed Miliband was elevated to Foreign Secretary, a major step up from his former Energy and Net Zero brief. Close ally Louise Haigh was appointed First Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Minister for the Cabinet Office (his de facto Deputy Prime Minister). Angela Rayner returned to government in her previous post of Housing Secretary, Yvette Cooper was reshuffled to become Health Secretary and Wes Streeting re-joined the cabinet with his appointment as Defence Secretary. Rounding out the senior team, Jonathan Reynolds was promoted to the newly expanded brief of Business, Science, Innovation and Trade Secretary, while Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell became Education Secretary, Emma Reynolds returned to the Treasury, being appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Some notable retentions from Starmer's cabinet included Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary, Pat McFadden as Work and Pensions Secretary, Alan Campbell as Leader of the Commons, Lisa Nandy as Culture Secretary and Heidi Alexander as Transport Secretary.

Burnham's cabinet is the first in history with a majority of female members: 12 of the 23 members of the cabinet are women and 11 (including the prime minister) are men. There are also two female ministers and three male ministers attending cabinet, making a total of 14 male and 14 female ministers at cabinet meetings.

The current list of ministers in the cabinet is as follows:^[4][1]

Media analysis of Burnham's initial appointments to his cabinet on 20 July 2026 noted the removal of individuals seen as Starmer loyalists.

BBC News' political editor Chris Mason called it a "pretty significant cull of the ministers closest to and most loyal to Keir Starmer".^[14]

Sky News called it a "purge of the Starmerites".^[15] Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby said "there was quite a brutal cull of all Starmer loyalists. [...] The only person that survived in that cabinet that hadn't made it known that they would like Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for [his] departure is Pat McFadden",^[16] McFadden having been kept by Burnham as his Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.^[1][17][18] Rigby did note that Burnham "kept a lot of cabinet ministers in position. Burnham might have shuffled the pack a bit, but he's not completely doing away with the Starmer regime",^[15] but also said that "all of the other cabinet ministers that are still in the cabinet, in maybe different jobs, but are still there, were people that let it be known that they thought that Keir Starmer's time was up, that's Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper, John Healey, and Shabana Mahmood."^[16]

Those named as sacked Starmer loyalists included Darren Jones, David Lammy, Peter Kyle, Lord Hermer, Steve Reed, and Rachel Reeves, although in Reeves' case, Chris Mason reported that he was told Reeves was offered a cabinet post but turned it down,^[14] with The Guardian reporting that the position she turned down was that of Defence Secretary, Reeves choosing to return to the backbenches, and the role going to Wes Streeting.^[5][1] Mason additionally posed the question of how vocally the departed Starmerites would criticise the new government from the backbenches as it set out its programme.^[14]

Commentary also examined the ideological composition of the new cabinet. Tribune wrote that Burnham's appointments leant further towards the party's soft left than Starmer's cabinet, with Starmer's core supporters largely swept aside while Ed Miliband, Louise Haigh, Miatta Fahnbulleh and Angela Rayner took prominent posts, but cautioned that the result was "a potentially uneasy coalition" between the soft left and the Labour right.^[19] Analysis for Left Foot Forward highlighted the rehabilitation of Rayner and Haigh, both of whom had been forced to resign from Starmer's government, describing Rayner as "a political heavyweight" whose housing brief includes devolution, a core focus of Burnham's government, and suggested that Fahnbulleh's appointment signalled continuity with the previous government's net zero agenda; it also questioned whether the overall composition, which retained many of the same ministers, was overly cautious.^[20]

The junior appointments announced on 21–23 July also attracted comment, particularly the decision to give a life peerage and a ministerial post to Anas Sarwar, who had led Scottish Labour to its worst Holyrood defeat since devolution at the May 2026 election, and who had been the first senior Labour figure to publicly call for Starmer's resignation. LBC reported that Sarwar had rejected suggestions during the Holyrood campaign that he would accept a seat in the Lords if he failed to become First Minister, and quoted a Labour Party source describing the appointment as "falling upwards as an extreme sport".^[21] The Spectator similarly argued that the appointment showed Burnham was prepared to reward "those who've enabled him one way or the other".^[22]