Adam Boulton: UK Political Commentator on Andy Burnham becoming the UK's seventh Prime Minister in a decade, John Healey chosen as Chancellor

Andy Burnham's arrival at Number 10 Downing St is being seen as a big shift for Britain. 

The former Manchester Mayor and Labour cabinet minister has become the UK's seventh Prime Minister in a decade. 

He's replaced Sir Keir Starmer, who resigned after a collapse in public support. 

UK political commentator Adam Boulton told Mike Hosking Burnham's cabinet appointments so far bring a very different face to the British Government.  

He says that's largely due to the fact Burnham's a confident communicator compared to Starmer, who often appeared robotic. 

Burnham’s pick for Chancellor has also come as a surprise, with former Defence Secretary John Healey chosen for the role. 

Boulton told Hosking what’s surprising is that Healy resigned recently over wanting more defence spending, so the question is whether he’ll live up to what he was demanding at the time. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And the Burnhamir has arrived in Britain overnight, jettisoned into

(00:02):
number ten directly from Manchester. He is Labour's hope of
dealing to a country laden with ditt and angry over
things like a legal migration. Adam Bolton's UK political commentator
beck will Us Adam, very good morning to you. Good
morning scale of one to ten, ten being your shocked
to your socks. Heally as Chancellor, what do you make
of it?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, he was not a favorite. It was suggested that
there was a battle between Ed Milivan, the former Labour leader,
and Shabanama Mood, who has been a hardline Home Secretary.
So John Healey has come through the middle. What is
surprising about that is that he resigned recently in support

(00:42):
of Andy Burnham over wanting more defense spending. He's now
the man with a purse string. So a lot of
people were saying will he live up to what he
was demanding when he was Defense Secretary? Because of course
that was one of Sekre Starmon's failings.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
So Miller bend as Foreign Secretary. Is that a compromise
given he didn't get chancellor or he deserves the job
in its own right.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
I think it is a compromise. It is a so
called great Officer of State along with the Chancellor and
the Home Secretary. It gives him a chance on the
international stage where he's of course fairly well known as
a former Environment Minister and also a leader of the
Labor Party. It's an interesting move in the sense that

(01:26):
Ed Millerband is more radical peacenik inclined. I mean he
has was played a role in leading to the defeat
of David Cameron over the proposed punishment bombing on a
side of Syria after using Chemira, after he had used

(01:48):
chemical weapons. He also argued successfully that Britain should limit
the use of its bases for Donald Trump's war on Iran.
So I think it will be seen as of a
piece with what the Labor Party perhaps would like to hear,
but not necessarily British foreign policy, as we've traditionally known

(02:09):
that We've already had the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham
saying that he thinks Britain should have been quicker to
condemn Israel over its attacks on Palestine.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, so what do you make of the last couple
of hours, Because this is literally how it's unfolded over
the last couple of hours. Has the revolution arrived? Is
Labor a different party, is Britain a different country or
is there just a new blank at number ten?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Now, this is a big shift in the government of
the UK. I mean we've had seven posts announced so far,
only two of them have kept the same people in
the job. Interestingly, people to the right of the party
Shavannah Mamou tough on immigration and Pat mcfinn Padn is
staying at welfare and he's the one who famously said

(02:55):
he was fed up of labor MPs just asking who
they could tax to give more money to welfare recipients.
So that tone of the government is balanced by, as
I say, the move towards John Heally. But you know
it's a real perch. We've had a dozen people who
were seen as being close to Sekre Starmer kicked out

(03:19):
of the government. That's their reward for staying loyal, some
of them making that point. So it will be a
very different face to the British government, not least because frankly,
Andy Burnham is a confident and good communicator, presenter of arguments,

(03:40):
in comparison to Secure Starmer, who often appeared rather robotic,
even constipated.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Appreciate the inside of Fulton, UK political commentator form of
Sky and used political editor of course.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
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