LONDON — Andy Burnham, Britain’s new prime minister, has handed the country’s diplomatic reins to a trio of ministers who all come with political baggage.
And it’s now their job to ensure Burnham can combine higher defense spending with a more progressive international posture — no easy balancing act.
New Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband — until recently secretary of state for energy — wants to carry on fighting climate change. The new Defense Secretary, Wes Streeting, is an outsider to the traditionally guarded military world. And the new chancellor of the exchequer, John Healey, will doubtless want to prioritize extra cash for defense, despite a long list of domestic priorities facing the government.
Burnham has appointed them in full knowledge of where their interests lie. It gives the team enormous leeway to make their mark while he pursues his own mission of reordering the British state and driving down the cost of living.
But Burnham will not escape the pull of international diplomacy altogether.
He has already been busy taking phone calls from world leaders and trying out some of his northern charm on Donald Trump. He has signaled continued solidarity with Ukraine and kept on two heavyweights from the Keir Starmer era to help smooth the transatlantic relationship, with National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and U.S. trade envoy Varun Chandra remaining in post.
His choice of three big characters in key foreign-facing roles provides some clues about what he expects them to do while he’s fixing Britain.
Chancellor John Healey
The elevation of John Healey to the job of top finance minister will set expectations he will reorder Treasury priorities to find more money for the armed forces and set a pathway to meeting 3 percent of GDP on defense by 2030.
This was the issue that sparked his own resignation as defense secretary last month, after a heated clash with the Treasury. Burnham stated outright in a call with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Monday that the appointment “was a signal of his intent.”
Andrew Kinniburgh, director of industry lobby group Make UK Defence, said Healey “understands the pressing need for the Treasury to accelerate investment in our defense … It is excellent news that he will now be in the position to direct this.”
The trouble for Healey is that he’s no longer just the minister for defense spending, and he will now have to find the money for a host of potentially costly domestic priorities, such as reforming social care and raising Britain’s personal income tax allowance.
Ed Arnold, security lead for defense and security business organization D Group, said there was “optimism” Healey might tap into new funding routes such as a Canadian-led multinational defense bank, but “now he’s in the bigger chair as chancellor, he’s going to find the same constraints” as his predecessor, Rachel Reeves.
One person who worked with Healey, granted anonymity to speak frankly, said it was “mad” to regard him as a safe pair of hands. They warned he is “a big spender” who “messed up MoD’s spending review so there was the shortfall in the Defence Investment Plan.” Healey’s team has yet to respond to a request for comment.
But Paul Johnson, former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, warned this week that there is no way to square the new government’s competing demands — on defense and domestic reform — without “big tax hikes.”
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband
Miliband, the former energy secretary, was widely expected to land the job of chancellor until just a few weeks ago. Now at the Foreign Office, it’s likely he’ll want to stamp his own authority on what can sometimes be an apolitical department in furtherance of his progressive ideals.
Upon becoming foreign secretary, Miliband vowed to fight for international law, multilateral institutions, action on the climate crisis and a focus on the global south.
As one former senior colleague of Miliband put it: “He’s basically progressive royalty.” A second former official said: “He sees that he is one of the few real net zero leaders that remain globally and he feels that responsibility.”
A diplomat from a G20 nation said Miliband would seek to make the most of the U.K.’s G20 presidency next year, while the second former official quoted above said: “In terms of effectiveness he was head and shoulders above anyone in the Starmer government – in terms of both vision and the dark arts of Whitehall.”
Many in the Labour Party will be delighted by the idea of pursuing more assertive left-wing leadership on the global stage, but his promotion carries its own risks.
As opposition Labour leader in 2013, Miliband whipped his MPs to block U.K. military action against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in response to his use of chemical weapons on civilians — a move that stunned the Obama administration at the time. His differences with the current Donald Trump White House are well-known.
A U.S. official said: “Certain names will spark knee-jerk reactions.” Confirming this was a reference to Miliband, they added: “If the thinking is to keep a few ‘steady hands’ such as Powell and Chandra, I’m not sure that would be enough.”
Others believe this tension has been overstated. A former senior British diplomat pointed out that Miliband will deal with Marco Rubio more than Trump, observing: “Foreign secretary is not the same as ambassador to the U.S. The new team will be less keen on wooing Trump than Starmer was at the start.”
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting
Streeting was a surprise pick to lead the Ministry of Defence, given that he’d served as health secretary until recently and is known as a street fighter on the party political scene, rather than for any particular international track record.
His limited interventions on global matters have focused on hiking defense spending, and he recently accused Starmer of failing to take a hard enough line against Israel over its prosecution of the war in Gaza.
Some have complained about the upheaval, since predecessor Dan Jarvis was only given the job six weeks ago. One serving minister said: “We had our first proper veteran in charge of defense who was highly credible. For what reason, apart from the individual progression [of Streeting], would you move him on?”
Richard Dannatt, former chief of the general staff, told Times Radio Tuesday he was “disappointed” by Streeting’s appointment. Streeting, he said, has “no background in defense” and would have to “do a lot of learning” before he could make an impact.
D Group’s Arnold said the new defense secretary had been left with a mountain to climb when it comes to building alliances: “Counterparts have been used to Healey, and then Jarvis was introduced at NATO, but Streeting hasn’t got an international profile.”
Some now speculate that Streeting has been brought in to ensure any future spending boost is matched with serious internal reform of the MOD, including the delivery of a recently introduced Military Strategic Headquarters and a new national armaments director.
A government official confirmed this focus, saying: “He’ll certainly be combining investment with modernization, as he did at [the Department of] Health.”
Asked at Tuesday’s briefing for journalists what qualified Streeting for the job, Burnham’s spokesman said the new prime minister had picked “a secretary of state with a proven track record of driving improvement at a major government department.”
“The prime minister is clear that defense needs exactly that kind of leadership now, and that is why Wes Streeting is the right person for the job,” he added.
In this, Streeting will face a massive task in juggling the reorganization of a department often resistant to change with his duties on the international stage.
Sam Blewett and Sam Francis contributed reporting.
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