Burnham Prepares Day-One Foreign Policy Blitz, With Miliband Tipped for Foreign Secretary
The figure 0.7 sits at the centre of Andy Burnham's first-day plans: a roadmap to restore Britain's overseas aid budget to 0.7 per cent of
The figure 0.7 sits at the centre of Andy Burnham's first-day plans: a roadmap to restore Britain's overseas aid budget to 0.7 per cent of GDP, reversing years of retrenchment, as part of a sweeping overhaul of the Foreign Office being prepared for the opening hours of his government.
Senior Labour figures told The Independent that "lieutenants of Andy Burnham" have quietly been canvassing expertise inside the party, asking specialists how the department should be rebuilt. What is emerging goes well beyond an aid target.
Three early calls will define the new government's posture abroad. Burnham's team wants a clear position on Britain's involvement in the war in Iran, a decision on how much military support to extend to Washington, and an early working relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky as Ukraine defends itself against Russia.
Miliband Tipped for the Top Job
Then there is the personnel question. Conviction is hardening among Labour insiders that Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, will be named foreign secretary — and handed explicit licence to pursue climate goals through the department, an unusual remit for a brief historically dominated by security and diplomacy.
For a former Labour leader who made his name on energy and climate policy, the role would effectively fuse his old brief with Britain's global standing. Allies of Mr Burnham see it as a statement of intent rather than a simple reshuffle.
The appointment would carry meaning beyond climate. Miliband would be regarded as a more progressive foreign secretary on the Middle East, arriving just weeks after Mr Burnham said Britain's policy on the war in Gaza had "not been good enough". Inside the party, that remark was widely read as a signal: a tougher line on Israel is coming.
Oil, Gas and a Crowded First Day
Foreign affairs is only one lane of the blitz. Mr Burnham also intends to announce expanded drilling for oil and gas among his opening moves — a decision set to land alongside the unveiling of a climate-driven Foreign Office.
The two tracks collide. How a Miliband-led Foreign Office champions decarbonisation abroad while the government issues fresh drilling licences at home will be among the first questions the new team has to answer.
The 0.7 per cent benchmark itself carries weight far beyond Westminster. It is the longstanding United Nations target for wealthy nations — one Britain once met before the aid budget was squeezed — and a formal recommitment would be watched closely by aid agencies and donor capitals alike. Few large economies currently hit it.
For now, the planning continues behind closed doors. Burnham's lieutenants are expected to keep sounding out party specialists in the coming days, with the appointments, the aid roadmap and the drilling announcement all slated to land together as the opening statement of his government.
