Burnham on course to be PM, but what would his No 10 operation look like?

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock By Henry Zeffman , Chief political correspondent  and  Nick Eardley , Political correspondent Published 14 minutes ago The big question in Westminster today is not who will be prime minister, it's who will Andy Burnham appoint to his government and what will he do with power. Burnham's accession is taken as a given by Labour MPs. As soon as Sir Keir Starmer announced his departure , it became overwhelmingly likely. In the past couple of days, the remaining obstacles have fallen quickly, including on Wednesday morning when senior minister Darren Jones confirmed he would not be launching a challenge of his own. The former Armed Forces Minister Al Carns has not ruled out his own bid, but it seems vanishingly unlikely he would get the backing of 81 Labour MPs needed to trigger a formal contest. Who could be the UK's next chancellor? Published 10 hours ago Starmer holds talks with Burnham as he seeks 'orderly' transition Published 9 hours ago Burnham's people: MPs and advisers in line for a job if he gains power Published 2 hours ago Attention is therefore increasingly focused on what Burnham in No 10 would look like. On his policy and priorities, there are still a lot of questions in search of answers. We are starting to get some answers on his top team, however. Rachel Reeves will not be his chancellor. That is hardly a surprise for an incoming prime minister vowing to offer change. But it is still a big deal: Reeves has not only been chancellor for two years but spent years in opposition fashioning Labour's economic approach. She is likely to be offered a more junior cabinet position - though it is worth noting how rare it is for a chancellor to move downwards in the cabinet. With the exception of Nadhim Zahawi, who spent a few brief weeks as Boris Johnson's chancellor, you have to go back to 1983 for an example of a chancellor moving into a more junior cabinet job. So who replaces her? The frontrunner is widely considered to be Ed Miliband, the energy secretary. He urged Sir Keir not to block Burnham's first attempted return to Parliament in January and has been seen as supportive of Burnham's ambitions ever since. Miliband's advocates argue that he is exactly the kind of chancellor Burnham would need to make good on his ambitions to transform the British economy. They also argue that - whatever MPs think of his agenda, particularly on the green transition - he has shown in the past two years an uncommon ability to drive the government machine. He also has years of Treasury experience advising Gordon Brown. But there are many Labour MPs, especially on the right of the party, who are opposed to the idea. Some of that is animosity lingering right back to his years as leader. But their bigger concern about Miliband is policy: for some he would represent a shift too far to the left. "I think the chancellor thing is a huge risk for Andy," says one MP. "If Andy goes through with Ed it will divide the party from the sta