Former PMs Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak offer advice to incoming Andy Burnham
As Andy Burnham prepares to step into the role of prime minister on Monday, an unusual chorus of advice has emerged from his Conservative predecessors offering insight into the demands of the senior position.
While Sir Keir Starmer has publicly refused to advise his successor, other new occupants of No 10 have been more open, collectively highlighting the enormous time pressures Mr Burnham is about to face.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Rishi Sunak urged Mr Burnham to “seize every second” of his arrival at Downing Street, expressing regret for not allowing him “a moment’s reflection”.
But once inside, Mr Sunak added that it was “imperative” for a prime minister to “make a plan” to make the most productive use of his time. This, he suggested, required communicating regularly with MPs and directing “two or three” key priorities from No 10.
Mr Sunak concluded: “Your limited time means it is vital that you choose your priorities and communicate them quickly to Whitehall while stocks are at their highest.”
Amid speculation about Mr Burnham’s Cabinet picks, Mr Sunak also stressed the importance of appointing the “most capable” ministers to the jobs most important to a prime minister’s priorities.
While attention focuses on whether Ed Miliband or Shabana Mahmood will become chancellor, the former prime minister said the most important thing would be the choice of foreign minister.
He said: “Burnham wants to spend less time on international affairs than his predecessor, but this will only begin to become possible if he is succeeded by a foreign secretary who is well known and respected on the global stage.”
But he suggested this could only go so far, urging Mr Burnham to hold one-on-one meetings with other world leaders given “the extent to which personal relationships influence international diplomacy”.
Referring to his negotiations with the EU, he said: “We would never have got the Windsor Framework done if I had not built up a relationship of trust with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.”
Boris Johnson, another of Mr Burnham’s predecessors, also offered some advice to the new prime minister in an interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News’ Sunday Morning.
Mr Johnson said he wished Mr Burnham “well” but, as Mr Sunak said, he “doesn’t have much time” with “prime ministers being led to doom” in public.
He added: “It needs to continue and it needs to give investors in this country a sense of hope about it.
“Which means he has to find reasons to buy the Englishman, stay stuck inside and stop the bleeding of talent.
“And he needs to think about what he’s doing on tax. Labor also needs to have control over spending.”
