Andy Burnham is planning a major shake up of Downing Street to create a powerful new executive department for the prime minister to develop policy and drive delivery across Whitehall.
The reform has been drawn up by James Purnell, who will be Burnham’s chief of staff, following consultation with key figures who worked in No 10 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Antonia Romeo, the cabinet secretary, has been informed of the significant overhaul planned for the machinery of government as part of the “access talks” between the incoming administration and the civil service.
Purnell, who worked as a Downing Street special adviser under Blair before becoming an MP, is convinced that sweeping change is needed to professionalise a dysfunctional and demoralised No 10 and deliver the improvements that voters are demanding. “I think he’s the first person in a long time who’s treating it like a managerial task,” one Whitehall source said. “He knows that what he’s got to do is go in and create a functioning organisation.”
The plan is based on a blueprint produced last year by a thinktank called the Future Governance Forum. Purnell was involved in developing the Forum’s proposals and convened a meeting of the New Labour great and good at the London offices of his consultancy Flint Global last June.
He concluded that No 10 must be transformed to make government work more effectively for the prime minister and the country. “The clear consensus is that the centre of government is not configured to serve the prime minister to deliver,” the report warned.
The Forum’s report – shaped and endorsed by Purnell – called for the creation of a new executive department for the prime minister.
It said the modernised Downing Street should be based around four distinct units: a “politics and strategy group” focused on the government’s political and longer-term plans; a “policy and delivery group” chasing progress across Whitehall; a “diplomacy and security group” dealing with international responsibilities; and a No 10 private office.
The chief secretary to the Treasury should report to the prime minister as well as the chancellor, giving Downing Street more control over spending decisions.
The recommendations were submitted to Keir Starmer in August last year, but neither the prime minister nor then-chief of staff Morgan McSweeney were interested in what they saw as complicated machinery-of-government reforms.
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Now Purnell is coming in to run the show and the blueprint is set to be implemented. Burnham will have a significantly beefed up Downing Street operation in London as well as a new No 10 in the north.
On Friday, Burnham will be formally anointed Labour leader by Shabana Mahmood, the chair of the party’s ruling body, at the Trades Union Congress in London, having secured the backing of 322 MPs within a day of nominations opening. He has had less than a month to prepare for power, since winning the Makerfield byelection on 18 June, but has been planning for this moment for years.
During “access talks” between the incoming prime minister and the civil service last week, Burnham and his team – Purnell and Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary, who is tipped for a top job in the new administration – set out their plans for a complete “reorientation” of the government. “Andy has done some serious thinking about how to rewire the state and the country,” one ally said.
Romeo is enthusiastic about the proposed shake-up. “She was itching for significant reform of the civil service machine,” according to a senior source. “It’s a gift for Andy because she’s pretty motivated about using this as an opportunity to do stuff she thought was necessary anyhow.”
Across Whitehall, civil servants are hoping for more clarity and direction from the top. “A dysfunctional No 10 is one of the worst things for a civil servant in a department because you can never get an answer to anything,” one insider said. “You just want competence and strength.”
There is a tension between Burnham’s commitment to devolve more powers around the UK and his determination to grip the machinery of government at the centre. But the next prime minister is committed to ending the Whitehall turf wars that have debilitated so many administrations and curb the overzealous micromanagement by the Treasury that has hobbled successive Labour leaders.
When he appoints his cabinet next week, Burnham is planning to give each minister – including his chancellor – clear written instructions setting out his personal priorities and targets for their department. He remembers going into Downing Street as a minister under Blair for regular check-ins with the delivery unit and wants his cabinet to be held to account in a similar way.
One ally said the line in Burnham’s recent speech that “the political direction… is not up for negotiation” was a deliberate message to the cabinet and Labour MPs: “If you’re not on board, don’t join.”
Burnham’s coronation means he will start his leadership with extraordinarily high levels of political authority. “The unique position he’s in now is he’s not beholden to anybody,” one friend said. “He’s not done any deals – everyone is sitting waiting. He’s in a position of maximum power. I’d be absolutely amazed if anyone tried to reject a job.”
With Starmer on the way out and Burnham not yet installed, current ministers and special advisers are in limbo. One junior member of the government said he was planning to clear his desk next weekend in case he gets sacked by the new prime minister.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, has already started having leaving drinks, according to a Labour source. His obsequious texts to Peter Mandelson after he had been fired, which were leaked last month, crossed a line for Burnham and his team. Jones praised the former ambassador, who was sacked after details of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein emerged, for doing a “great job” in Washington.
“That doesn’t scream new culture,” said one ally of the incoming leader. “There have to be strong signals that we’re not having that kind of behaviour.”
After criticisms of the “boys’ club” culture in Starmer’s No 10, the women around Burnham are planning to introduce what one senior figure calls a “no knobheads” rule as part of the “cultural reset” in the party. “Andy’s been really struck by how unhappy the Labour MPs are,” one source said.
Burnham has now met about half the parliamentary Labour party. Sally Jameson, the MP for Doncaster Central, has been inviting MPs in to see him in small groups. Last week, Purnell also met junior ministers to ask what they think is working well and what needs to change in No 10.
“People were impressed. He’s a politician – he knows how to speak to MPs and what they care about,” said one of those who went to the meeting. “Morgan [McSweeney] had never been elected so he was always very dismissive of MPs and tried to bypass them.”
The team around Burnham is drawing up a “10-day plan” and a “100-day plan” for the start of his prime ministership. The focus will be on eye-catching initiatives and cost of living measures designed to signal a new sense of urgency and direction. Free bus passes for young people and help with energy bills have been floated as ideas. Burnham is also planning a nationwide summer tour to areas where Labour has been losing support.
Longer-term, the next prime minister’s policy priorities are said to be education reform, social care and housing. He will need to press ahead with changes to the welfare system and find money for defence. There will be a rebalancing of the state to give greater public control of services.
Strains are already emerging within the Burnham team as MPs and advisers jockey for position. There are tensions between the Manchester set and the Westminster gang. Miatta Fahnbulleh, who resigned as communities minister, and Josh Simons, who gave up his Makerfield seat for Burnham, have been running parallel policy operations. “There are political implications,” said a Labour source. “Is it a soft-left project or ‘blue Labour’ one? Is it New Labour or old Labour?”
One ally of the incoming leader said it was impossible to know whether Burnham is prepared to be prime minister. “Andy wanted Keir to stay on until September, so he had more time, but I do think he’s mentally ready, which is perhaps different to Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak. He definitely wants to do it. He is, despite the scale of the transition, thriving on it. He can’t wait.”
Ministers outside the inner circle are reserving judgment. “Andy’s a nice guy but he wants to be liked,” one said. “He doesn’t enjoy telling people what they don’t want to hear. Over the next couple of weeks, he’s going to have to ring up cabinet ministers and tell them they’re fired. He’s going to hate it. As prime minister, you can’t keep everyone happy all the time. The question is: is he ready to make the difficult decisions?”
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Photographs by Laurie Noble, Roger Harris/UK Parliament, Getty Images, Nicola Tree/Getty Images, Andy Hall for The Observer