Why Andy Burnham should bring David Miliband into his cabinet
TThe joke going around parliament is that around 322 CVs were sent to Andy Burnham and he was rejected by ambitious MPs seeking ministerial jobs in his government.
And when he is announced as Labour’s new leader on Friday, many will be nervously checking their phones and waiting to see if they will get a call.
But it is quite possible that Mr Burnham will follow the example of Gordon Brown and, 13 years later, Rishi Sunak, bringing in talent from outside the current group to strengthen his top team.
And one of those waiting to hear whether he is on that list is former foreign secretary and one-time Labor leadership hopeful David Miliband.
Mr Miliband was once the standard-bearer for the Blairites in the Labor Party, which was said to be on the verge of attempting to oust Mr Brown in the final days of the 2009-2010 Labor government.
But his own ambitions came to a spectacular end when his brother Ed, now energy minister, installed him as leader of the Labor Party in a spectacular display of political theatre. He was out of parliament in 2013 and the 61-year-old is currently chairman of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
While Mr Burnham’s appointment of his former colleague, who served in the same cabinet with David Miliband under Sir Tony Blair and Mr Brown, may seem like reuniting the old group, there are good reasons to appoint the older brother.
David Miliband was an outstanding foreign secretary concerned with bringing peace to Sri Lanka, establishing relations with India, overseeing the Lisbon Treaty with the EU and taking a firm stance against Israel.
His 13 years as president of the IRC only built on this experience and made him an internationally prominent and respected figure.
Bringing him back would also help Mr Burnham get the broad church he desires in the cabinet and have responsive centrist voices to balance figures like Louise Haigh on the left of the party.
But he also injects a much-needed breadth of experience, intellectual strength and understanding into a cabinet that may lack these qualities.
To do this, Mr Burnham will need to follow the path Mr Sunak followed when he brought back David Cameron as foreign secretary.
To take him into his cabinet, the then prime minister had to elevate him in the House of Lords and appoint a strong MP like Andrew Mitchell to be the Foreign Office’s voice in the House of Commons.
The Sunak government certainly benefited from Lord Cameron’s star power, and the Burnham government would likewise benefit from Lord Miliband.
The question is; Which job? It’s hard to believe Mr Miliband will return for any kind of work. This will almost certainly be the role of foreign secretary, or perhaps the strengthened role of the international development secretary, who is returned to full cabinet status.
But there is speculation that David Miliband may once again be defeated by his brother Ed, who is said to be running for the job of foreign secretary as consolation for losing his preferred position as chancellor.
If Mr Burnham has any sense, he will form a cabinet that includes both brothers, bringing together their talents, expertise and experience, and bringing together the different wings of the party they represent.
