Ed Miliband ‘sent demand to Andy Burnham after being promised job’ | Politics | News
It has been claimed that Ed Miliband made a request to Andy Burnham as he was sidelined from the valuable net zero briefing. Broadcaster and former Labor Secretary Ed Balls said he was “confident” Mr Miliband had called for Mr Burnham to appoint Miatta Fahnbulleh as Energy Minister in his cabinet reshuffle.
Mr Miliband is thought to be a front-runner for the Chancellorship, but he missed out on John Healey and has been tapped to head the Foreign Office instead. Mr Balls said he thought Mr Miliband “believed he had been promised the job” and expected the former Labor leader to be “furious” at the decision, suggesting he only agreed to the move by ensuring net zero champion Ms Fahnbulleh would replace him. He described Ms Fahnbulleh, who has been outspoken on the climate crisis, as “one of the few people who think Ed Miliband is not radical enough in his approach to climate change and net zero”.
Discussing his appointment with former Tory chancellor George Obsorne on the Political Currency podcast, Mr Balls said: “But Ed Miliband wasn’t made chancellor and he would have been angry and disappointed.
“And I’m sure he built the Miata [Fahnbulleh] “To take over your job, to keep your job, is the price of accepting this.”
Mr Osoborne described Ms Fahnbulleh’s appointment as “bizarre” amid reports that the Prime Minister was considering approving new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea; Mr Miliband had resisted this.
Responding to the move earlier this week, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Fahnbulleh was “probably worse” than her predecessor because “she wants net zero by 2030”.
On Thursday, Ms Fahnbulleh visited Aberdeen, home to much of the UK’s oil and gas sector, to meet leaders in the industry.
Industry sources reportedly believe the new Government is prepared to “act quickly” to increase oil and gas production, with Mr Burnham giving the green light to new drilling at the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields.
David Whitehouse, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK, said he and Ms Fahnbulleh had a “constructive discussion about the UK’s energy future and the need for a pragmatic approach to transition away from fossil fuels”.
