Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister has set off a week of repositioning across Westminster, with the ripple effects already shaping who’s gaining ground and who’s under pressure.
From Andy Burnham’s role in Labour’s future, with James Purnell’s appointment as his chief of staff adding further weight to the operation, to Kemi Badenoch sharpening her attack line at PMQs, and Rachel Reeves working to steady herself in a shifting political backdrop, the next phase is starting to form.
Read this week’s Who’s Top, Who’s Not – brought to you by Whitehouse’s Lavinia Troiani.
Top: James Purnell
The reported appointment of James Purnell as Andy Burnham’s chief of staff would mark a notable return to frontline politics for the former Labour cabinet secretary. Despite stepping away from frontline politics, he has remained a close confidant of Burnham, with their relationship stretching back more than two decades.
The choice of Chief of Staff is a tricky one as this appointment must cover many bases. And with Purnell seen by many as a ‘Blairite’, some on the left of the party are getting nervous. But being a Blairite has always been about being a moderniser and looking forward to how to meet the next challenges; you don't do that by looking backwards to 1997. So, we can expect Purnell to take a more pragmatic approach to governing that will reflect Burnham’s more statist tendencies with a high degree of partnership with business and a desire to achieve tangible results as soon as possible.
But the most important attribute for Chief of Staff is the ability to do the job and if one were to artificially grow an ideal chief in a lab, it would look an awful lot like Purnell. Huge governing experience in Whitehall, deep understanding of Labour politics, experience of running a large organisation, close personal relationship with the principal. If this is the new PM’s first appointment, it could be a good one.
Middle: Kemi Badenoch
This week, Badenoch used Prime Minister's Questions to position herself as Labour’s most aggressive critic in the wake of Starmer’s resignation. Rather than focusing solely on policy disagreements, she sought to portray Labour as divided, deploying unusually sharp rhetoric against senior ministers and Labour MPs, including several highly personal lines of attack.
The approach culminated in a clash with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, whom Badenoch called a “spiteful class warrior”, prompting a rare intervention from the Speaker and triggering a wider political row. Calls for an apology were swiftly rejected, with Badenoch’s spokesperson confirming that she would not retract her comments.
While the episode is likely to resonate with Conservative supporters who favour her combative style, it risks overshadowing her substantive criticisms of government policy and shifting attention towards questions of parliamentary conduct. But could this row actually benefit both Badenoch and Phillipson by playing well to each of their bases? The Guido Fawkes website was quick to issue t-shirts with photos of Bridget captioned ‘Spiteful class warrior’ on them. With both politicians declaring that they love the new threads, could this be a row that suits each of them?
Bottom: Rachel Reeves
It was a tough week for Reeves. Following the announcement of Starmer’s resignation, she publicly endorsed Andy Burnham as the next Prime Minister, despite the likelihood that he will remove her as chancellor.
Burnham is considering alternatives for the Treasury, including Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood. By stressing Burnham’s support for Labour’s fiscal rules, Reeves sought to reassure markets that a change in leadership would not mean a change in economic discipline. At the same time, her repeated references to unfinished projects amounted to a subtle pitch for remaining at the Treasury, or at the very least an appeal for her successor to maintain the broad direction of her economic agenda.
With the Mansion House speech due on 14th July, just days before Burnham is likely to be confirmed as Prime Minister, Reeves will have one final opportunity to shape the economic narrative and set out her fiscal priorities. Whether the incoming chancellor chooses to build on that agenda or chart a different course, however, will ultimately be a matter for the new administration.