Project Hail Burnham: Ministers moved on & Department destroyed

Image Credit: Sophie Layton, Wild Magazine.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street on the afternoon of July 20th promising to bring “the biggest changes in the last forty years” - and big changes they would be.

Twelve hours later, nearly a dozen Cabinet ministers had been sacked, an additional five had changed role, and the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology was no more.

So what has happened in the hallowed halls of Whitehall in the past two days, and where does it leave the environment, nature and wildlife as we enter the Age of Andy?

Three Strikes - One Up, One Down, One Out

Burnham promised to make his premiership “the moment we bring back hope”; but whilst hope may be back, many of Starmer’s former ministers aren’t.

Burnham’s cull was swift; allies of Starmer from Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, to Housing Secretary Steve Reed and Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones were out within hours, and before a single appointment had even been made.

And departments related to nature weren’t spared either; amongst the cull was Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation & Technology, alongside her predecessor, the former Science Secretary and sitting Business Secretary Peter Kyle.

And Emma Reynolds, until last week the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, was reshuffled to be Chief Secretary to the Treasury - a non-Cabinet role and clear demotion for the short-lived Secretary.

But the most fortunate of the three Secretaries with environment-encompassing portfolios came for Ed Miliband, the former Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero, who now finds himself in Manilla as the new Foreign Secretary, a promotion to one of the Great Offices of State, having previously been tipped as Reeves’s replacement as Chancellor.

And with their departures, came a changing of the guard.

The New Kids on the Block

There were promotions aplenty across Government, with those disloyal to Starmer seemingly coming off best, most notably with John Healey’s promotion to Chancellor, bringing the former Defence Secretary back into Government as Burnham’s very first appointment.

Replacing Miliband at the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is Miatta Fahnbulleh, a former junior minister in the department, former civil servant and part of the 2024 intake of MPs, one of the quickest career progressions of her cohort.

Following her appointment, she promised to “take the radical action needed to turn this country around”, but with reports swirling that Burnham may be on the cusp of approving further drilling for oil in the North Sea, campaigners are skeptical about what this appointment, and Miliband’s reshuffle to the Foreign Office, may mean in practice.

Down the road, Dame Angela Eagle swooped in to take Reynolds’s former role as Environment Secretary, another unexpected appointment. Eagle has been an MP since 1992, and has held a plethora of ministerial and shadow ministerial roles in Government and Opposition, including several stints in this department and its former iterations.

Eagle’s appointment has been welcomed by many animal rights groups, who have praised her support for “a range of animal welfare measures over many years”.

But the most interesting change arose in the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology, with the appointment of…no one; Liz Kendall was to be the final Science Secretary.

A department founded by Rishi Sunak just three and a half years ago, and yet seeing four Secretaries of State, its responsibilities are now split between the Departments for Business & Trade, Culture, Media & Sport, & the Cabinet Office, with a mixed reaction from many in the scientific community.

Burnham has also begun to announce his junior ministerial team, including promotions for Katie White in the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero, for Kate Dearden & Chris McDonald in the expanded Department for Business, Innovation, Science & Trade, & for Emma Hardy in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, all from Under-Secretaries of State to Ministers of State, with exact remits still to be announced.

Michael Shanks has also been re-appointed to his previous role as Energy Minister within the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero.

The final appointment so far to challenge the Government’s environmental credentials, however, comes in the form of the re-appointed Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Kanishka Narayan, becoming Britain’s first Cabinet-level AI Minister, after he was given special dispensation to attend Cabinet.

Will Burnham’s warm embrace of AI technology be just the latest indication of a policy programme that will unnecessarily endanger the environment even further?

So, what now?

With the new Cabinet still finding their feet, and a slew of junior ministerial appointments still to be made, we are still unclear as to exactly what shape the prospects for the environment, energy, science and climate are in as the new ministry begins its tenure.

But for many, particularly in Labour and in the wider country, this is the government’s final chance before 2029 to get it right. With the prospect of Reform looming, and the backtrack of environmental progress they will surely bring, will Burnham’s approach save his party and safeguard our natural world?

As fires burn, heatwaves rage and yet another day goes by without a much-needed downpour, we wait with baited breath, as time continues to run out.

Disclaimer:

Opinions, views and thoughts expressed in our articles belong solely to the authors and not necessarily to Wild Magazine. Publication in our magazine does not indicate endorsement. We are not affiliated with any particular group or political organisation.

About the Author:

Sophie Layton (she/her) is an MA International Public & Political Communication, & BSc Biology graduate from the University of Sheffield. As well as Wild Magazine, Sophie has written extensively for Forge Press, as well as contributing pieces to Liberty Belle Magazine, EdFringe Review, & The Liberator, among others.