Andy Burnham could appoint Manchester policing chief Kate Green as his No 10 chief of staff, sack David Lammy and bring Josh Simons – the former MP who quit to make way for the Manchester Mayor – into No 10, as his team wargame next steps if he wins Thursday’s Makerfield by-election.
The Greater Manchester Mayor has also been receiving advice from Baroness Sue Gray, the former senior civil servant who briefly worked as No 10 chief of staff, as he prepares for Downing Street.
Burnham and Sir Keir Starmer are gearing up for a showdown next week when the Greater Manchester Mayor hopes to return to Parliament to challenge the Prime Minister. On Wednesday, Starmer said he would offer Burnham a job in his Cabinet – an offer which Burnham allies say he will reject.
If Burnham does claim the Labour leadership, he will bring a new team to No 10.
Labour insiders have told The i Paper that Green, deputy mayor of Greater Manchester for policing and crime since 2023 and a former Labour MP, is one of a number of names under discussion for the chief of staff role.
She was shadow education secretary in Starmer’s shadow cabinet from 2020 to 2021, but demoted by the then Leader of the Opposition when he shuffled his team in November 2021.
Green resigned her Commons seat in 2022 after being nominated by Burnham for the deputy policing and crime role in Manchester.
Earlier in her parliamentary career she served as shadow equalities minister under former Labour leader Ed Miliband – who is touted as a potential Chancellor in a Burnham cabinet.
Other Burnham allies set for jobs
Elsewhere, Burnham is supported by Kevin Lee, a longtime staffer who currently serves as director of the Mayor’s office in Greater Manchester.
Burnham has also reportedly been receiving advice from afar from Baroness Gray, the former mandarin who briefly worked as Starmer’s chief of staff, before she was replaced by Morgan McSweeney. Gray was later appointed a Labour peer.
Josh Simons – the Labour MP who gave up the Makerfield seat to let Burnham run – is likely to get a head of policy role in No 10.
Simons had previously resigned as a minister in Starmer’s government in February because of his decision to commission public affairs agency, APCO, to investigate journalists’ reporting of the think-tank Labour Together which he was running at the time.
Other aides in a Burnham government are likely to include Grace Pritchard – a special adviser to Miliband who has been seconded to Burnham’s campaign. There is also Donjeta Miftari, who is doing communications work in Makerfield.
Miftari briefly worked as a foreign policy adviser for Starmer in No 10, but left Downing Street shortly after Gray, whom she is close to.
Fears over infighting in Burnham’s team
Within the Parliamentary Labour Party, big jobs are expected for Miliband, current Deputy Labour Leader Lucy Powell, Culture Secretary Lisa Nady and Louise Haigh, who was forced to quit as transport secretary in November 2024 over a spent conviction and now chairs the influential Tribune group of “soft left” MPs.
The diversity of opinion among Burnham’s supporters is fuelling concerns in Labour circles that the project could soon be riven by infighting and divisions.
For example, Simons is widely seen as on the right of the party, backing tougher immigration control and North Sea drilling – seemingly poles apart from the politics of Haigh and Miliband.
A Labour insider who has been in contact with Team Burnham said it was difficult to pin down where the team stood on various issues.
“It depends which camp is in ascendancy this hour… Josh or Tribune/Ed,” they said.
“It’s emblematic of their general issue, there’s no set team, politics or platform.”
They added: “The more things change the more they feel the same.”
Cabinet shake up
Elsewhere, the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is keen to hang on to her current job, arguing that yet another change of Britain’s top diplomat would be bad for foreign policy.
It is understood that Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds are on a list of ministers likely to be sacked by Burnham.
Annaliese Midgeley, the MP for Knowsley, is playing a key role bridging the Burnham camp with the wider PLP, including the whips.
She is said to be trusted by MPs from her time working as political director for the Unite union, when she had to handle often fraught relations between the PLP and former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.
Other Burnham-supporting Labour MPs poised for ministerial roles include Miatta Fahnbulleh, Andrew Cooper, Connor Naismith, Anna Dixon and Luke Charters.
Think-tankers who could be brought into Government include Neal Lawson from Compass, Mathew Lawrence at Common Wealth, and Luke Hurst, the national coordinator of the soft left pressure group, Mainstream.
Economic advisers
On the economics front, Burnham has sought advice from Lord Jim O’Neil, a former chief economist of Goldman Sachs and minister in David Cameron’s government, who is now co-president of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. Michael Jacobs, an emeritus professor at the University of Sheffield, could also play a role.
Burnham’s team was contacted for comment.
The i Paper understands Starmer has gathered his key aides to see off a challenge from Burnham and has been taking advice from former aide McSweeney. On Tuesday, Starmer sent a rare direct mailshot to Labour members in which he set out his plans to ban social media for under-16s. “Together we are changing Britain,” he said in the email. Ultimately it will be for Labour’s grassroots to decide the party’s next leader.
An ally of Starmer said: “Keir is fired up because he is determined to deliver on his mandate from millions of voters across the country.”
A Cabinet minister told The i Paper any leadership contest should be “conducted with respect” and that Labour should not fall into the same trap as the Conservatives who tore themselves apart in four leadership elections between 2016 and 2022.
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