Andy Burnham defends Angela Rayner following reshuffle

Andy Burnham has defended Angela Rayner following a Labour reshuffle in which she was removed as party chair and national campaign coordinator in the wake of poor election results in councils across England.

In an interview this morning, the mayor of Greater Manchester said he “didn’t like some of the briefing that was coming out on Saturday night” and criticised the move to remove the “proud, northern, working-class woman”.

“I first met Angela 15 years ago, when I was a health minister and she was a care assistant working in Thameside here and I kind of noticed her – well, who couldn’t? She was a firebrand even then,” Andy Burnham said this morning.

“And I’ve seen her over the years develop into the amazing politician that she is today. And in an election when Labour was in some places losing its connection with working-class, northern communities, surely a proud, northern, working-class woman should be absolutely front and centre of everything we’re doing?”

He added: “So, I didn’t like some of the briefing that was coming out on Saturday night and I made that clear. But having made that clear, I don’t need now to labour the point because clearly there’s been a resolution.”

He told Sky News: “I didn’t like the way that was handled, and I didn’t see why we were getting a negative story on Saturday night when myself and Steve Rotheram and other people around the country had good victories to celebrate.

“So that wasn’t right – but I don’t think the way Angela was treated was right and I just made that clear. But it’s been resolved and we move on from this morning. There’s a shadow cabinet in place now, I hope they are getting on with the job.”

Information on the wider reshuffle in Keir Starmer’s shadow team started to emerge at 10pm on Sunday evening, with the whole set of appointments unveiled shortly afterwards. Rayner is now the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Following the reshuffle, former Bank of England economist Rachel Reeves now hold the role of Shadow Chancellor. Anneliese Dodds, who previously held the position, has now been appointed as chair of the party.

Dodds, who is replacing Rayner as party chair, will also chair Labour’s policy review following the poor showing in the May elections. Rayner, deputy leader, will also be ‘Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work’.

Reacting to the news last night, an ally of Rayner said: “Angela obviously comes out of this significantly more powerful both in terms of the party and policy. She will be much more visible now she isn’t being held back.

A Labour insider said: “Who would want to be national campaign coordinator in name only with no power when you’re just made the scapegoat for the failures of Keir’s team?”

A Rayner supporter said: “On Friday, Keir couldn’t answer a simple question about what Labour’s vision is, what our offer is and how we will win back the voters in our heartland seats. Angela can answer that question and is the best person to lead the fightback in the Red Wall.”

“Keir’s right to accelerate the change that we’ve got to make to win back the trust of voters across the country. He’s right to do so. He’s our leader and he should be supported in making those changes,” Sadiq Khan argued today. “I’m really pleased that Keir’s not happy with the results, because they were a mixed bag.”

Asked whether Starmer was right to remove Rayner as chair, he said: “Angela Rayner is one of the best politicians we have. She needs to be speaking to the public far more than she does as party chair. She’s been brilliant on my campaign.

“My frustration is because she’s party chair, trying to sort out our party, she’s not been doing more of that. So I think Keir’s right to get her in the front, speaking and listening and engaging with voters. She’s brilliant.”

Speaking to Sky News this morning, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown told viewers he did not think Starmer “wanted to replace Angela Rayner” but that the Labour leader sought to move her to a “different, more public job”.

“You can’t have a policy that doesn’t change. Keir Starmer wants to go for change. He wants to make the Labour Party face up to all the problems that this country faces and have solutions to them,” Brown said.

“We’ve got to give him the space and the power, and the support, to make these changes that are necessary. You can’t go back to 1997, you can’t go back to the manifesto of 2019.

“You’ve got to move forward, and I think Keir is trying to move the party forward,” he said. “He had successes in the election and he had reverses, and you can see that the electoral geography of Britain has been changing. But we’ve got to give him the chance to set out his response to these seismic changes.”

Open Labour criticised the leadership for “starting a cabinet reshuffle before ballot counts in many parts of the country had even started”, and suggested that a reshuffle within the leader’s officer is “perhaps more necessary”.

Momentum’s Andrew Scattergood described the reshuffle as “rearranging desk chairs” and said it “will have no impact on Labour’s electoral prospects if there is not also a fundamental shift towards a transformative economic vision that can unite working class voters across the country, from Bristol to Hartlepool”.

He said the appointment of Reeves as Shadow Chancellor indicated that Starmer is “doubling down on a failed strategy that has already cost us hundreds of council seats and a constituency that Labour has held for decades”.

As Shadow Future of Work Secretary, Rayner will focus on policy delivering good, well-paid jobs in every region and bringing back industry to communities. As Shadow Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, she will expose Tory sleaze and set out Labour’s policy to replace Tory cronyism with insourcing.

Rayner will play a leading role in developing policy, particularly in relation to the government’s “levelling up agenda”, economic policy and workers’ rights. She will also be able to implement her own deputy leadership campaign manifesto.

Nick Brown, who has served as chief whip under five different Labour leaders has been replaced by his deputy Alan Campbell, and Valerie Vaz was removed as House of Commons shadow leader in favour of Thangam Debbonaire.

Wes Streeting has been promoted from a junior shadow minister to a shadow cabinet member and will be responsible for work on child poverty. Most shadow cabinet members have stayed put in their roles.