Burnham plots Ed Miliband shake-up of Foreign Office as he readies policy blitz for first day as PM

Andy Burnham is planning a major reshuffle at the Foreign Office, which is expected to include a roadmap to get Britain back to spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid.

Senior Labor Party sources said Independent “Andy Burnham’s lieutenants” turned to experts within the party on how to reform the Foreign Office.

There is now growing belief in Mr Burnham’s government that the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, will be handed the job of foreign secretary, with clear permission to prioritize tackling climate targets through the department.

He will be seen as a more progressive foreign secretary in changing Middle East policy, after Mr Burnham recently said the policy towards the war in Gaza was “not good enough” and suggested a tougher line on Israel. The move comes like this:

There has been anger in the Labor Party over Sir Keir and chancellor Rachel Reeves cutting international development money to just 0.2 per cent of GDP to help cover the rising defense budget, without offering a roadmap to return it to the original target.

The 0.7 per cent figure was an achievement of Gordon Brown’s government and was maintained by David Cameron’s Tory-led government even after the financial crisis. However, under Boris Johnson, then Rishi Sunak and finally Sir Keir, this rate was reduced.

A senior figure noted: “Keir and Rachel broke their manifesto commitment on international aid but were not willing to meet anyone on the issue.”

Senior Labor MPs, including Commons overseas development committee chair Sarah Champion, have been lobbying hard for a return to the development commitment.

Another MP said: “This was all part of Labor trying to leave Reformation under Starmer behind, the kind of bad policy Farage is advocating. Andy [Burnham] “He made it clear that we would be ‘distinctly Labour’ again and that reinstating the development targets and the budget for it would be a big step towards that.”

Mr Miliband is understood to be the frontrunner for the job of chancellor but has been unseated by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

A source said: “It looks like Ed is now in the running for the job of foreign secretary. That’s what’s coming from everyone at the moment.”

“This is actually very good news because it means 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 targets and build an international alliance to tackle these problems.”

Even if Mr Miliband loses out to the other named foreign secretary, his brother David, his desire for international aid will remain. David Miliband is now chairman of the International Rescue Committee and is pushing for a return to 0.7 per cent.

Polly Billington, Ed Miliband’s special adviser, wrote for the influential New Economic Forum, which feeds the Burnham policy team, on the need to build international alliances on climate change to bypass Donald Trump’s US, China and Russia.

The East Thanet MP wrote: “The key to the UK’s G20 strategy must be to reinvigorate and strengthen the Global Clean Power Alliance as a political coalition capable of mobilizing urgent, coordinated action. The coalition must be built around a single guiding principle: protecting vulnerable populations while rapidly reducing our dependence on oil and gas.”

Meanwhile, campaigner Labor MP Joe Powell, who has been tapped to be anti-corruption minister, is pressing for Britain to tackle money laundering harder in the City of London as a way to boost international aid and prevent democracies from being undermined by cryptocurrency donations.

Also writing for the New Economics Forum, he said: “Advanced and developing economies alike face a looming debt crisis and shrinking fiscal space; there is an estimated $4 trillion a year financing gap in the Sustainable Development Goals and investment is needed in the energy transition. But it is still too easy for autocrats and criminals to launder money; this must be part of the solution.”

He wants to focus on the “opaque” London property market as part of an international effort to tackle the problem, noting that 40 per cent of foreign-owned properties in his constituency of Kensington and Bayswater are held in incorporated trusts.

As speculation grows about the make-up of Mr Burnham’s cabinet, Angela Rayner’s allies have played down suggestions she could be appointed health minister.

As well as being deputy Prime Minister, Lucy Powell is said to be getting a government ministry, possibly the ministry of culture.

Wes Streeting, culture secretary Lisa Nandy and education minister Bridget Phillipson have also been mentioned as options for the home secretary.

Mr Burnham is understood to be planning to abolish the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and bring it back to the Business Department, where former business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is expected to return to his old job.

Keir Starmer loyalists including business minister Peter Kyle, Duchy of Lancaster chancellor Darren Jones, deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, technology secretary Liz Kendall and housing secretary Steve Reed are all expected to return to the backbenchers.

Meanwhile, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch warned Mr Burnham he faced a “rude awakening”.

In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg to be broadcast on Sunday, he said: “This man doesn’t want to be scrutinised, he doesn’t want anyone to ask him tough questions, he just wants to please people.”

This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project