POLITICO runs through what we know about who will be doing the key roles in the next prime minister’s No. 10 Downing Street.
LONDON — With just days to go before he becomes prime minister, Andy Burnham is still scratching his head over how to assemble his Cabinet — but his No.10 team is taking shape.
Seasoned operatives will enter Downing Street with the soon-to-be Labour leader Monday — joining familiar faces from the Keir Starmer’s administration.
As Burnham’s chief of staff, James Purnell will be the beating heart of the operation.
The Tony Blair-era minister left Westminster for high-flying roles as a media executive, and most recently ran the Flint Global advisory firm. He is seen as a modernizer with a flair for the workings of the Whitehall machine.
Yet he ruled out a more drastic shake up of officialdom this week.
Purnell had been discussing proposals during transition talks with Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo to dramatically curtail the number of special advisers Cabinet ministers can employ, four people familiar with discussions told POLITICO.
The proposal under discussion would have seen the number of political advisers, known in Westminster as SpAds, cut by around half, leaving ministers with only two advisers apiece — an idea causing disquiet in the adviser ranks.
Purnell has ultimately ruled it out, according to an official familiar with his thinking.
There will also be continuity in the people doing some of those adviser roles. Officials in Starmer’s No. 10 policy unit — a group that provides strategic policy advice to the prime minister — will be kept in post for at least three months, if they want. The same offer has been made to some other advisers too.
POLITICO runs through what we know about Burnham’s No. 10 Downing Street:
Graeme Cooke will be director of the No.10 policy unit. He is already an adviser in Downing Street. He is a close friend of Purnell and worked for him as an adviser when he was work and pensions secretary between 2008 and 2009.
Harvey Redgrave, the unit’s current chief, will stay on in a new home affairs and justice special adviser role.
Hayden Munro, a former campaign director for New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, will be Burnham’s political director. Munro had been working in a senior position at the Labour-linked lobbying outfit Arden Strategies before being tapped up by Burnham.
Matthew McGregor will be director of political strategy, tasked with shaping the long-term narrative of Burnham’s government. He has been chief executive of the 38 Degrees campaign group and is a well-connected figure in Labour circles. He previously held a role in the Hope Not Hate anti-racism group, and worked on Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Sarah Brown will be Burnham’s director of communications in No.10. She moves over from City Hall, where she has spent five years as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s comms chief.
Grace Pritchard will be the No.10 director of news, as well as the prime minister’s spokesperson. She became a spokesperson for Burnham during his by-election campaign while on loan from Ed Miliband’s team of special advisers. She was given a permanent job in Team Burnham after impressing during the successful bid to get him back into parliament.
John Stevens is staying on as press secretary. The former political journalist — who worked at the Mirror and Daily Mail — knows both officials, and the Lobby of Westminster reporters well.
Tom Wells, a civil servant, is expected to stay on as the prime minister’s official spokesperson. A job which involves facing journalists at the daily Lobby briefing. Pritchard and Stevens are planning to sometimes join the daily briefings of Westminster journalists to give political briefings.
Danny Coyne, a former adviser to key Burnham ally Louise Haigh, is being lined up to work on No.10’s weekly grid of announcements.
Varun Chandra will remain chief business adviser to the prime minister. It is a post he’s held since December. He has deep ties with both the corporate world and the Trump administration.
Jonathan Powell is expcted to stay on as national security adviser — another very senior holdover from the Starmer era.
Dan Bloom and Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.