It’s farewell to Alan Johnson and hello (again) to Andy Burnham, previously a health minister, who’s made it back to the top job in Richmond House via what the press dubbed a “shotgun” reshuffle, forced by the unexpected resignation of work and pensions secretary James Purnell.
Since he was last at the Department of Health, Mr Burnham has had stints in the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
According to The Guardian, which secured an early interview, the new secretary of state seems to wish to bring his most recent experience to bear in his new job, wanting primary care trusts to put more money into swimming, gym sessions and cycling to save the cash-limited NHS money further down the line.
“The Olympic period and all the focus on sport is the time [to do it],” Alan Johnson’s replacement told the paper.
On the same day, The Independent published an opinion piece from the “departing culture secretary” - presumably rushed to press as soon as it was clear its author had a new job. In it, he describes how former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey and he opened new music rehearsal spaces. He probably won’t get to hang out with punk legends so much in the new job.
The Daily Telegraph described him as an ambitious politician “initially considered a Blairite” and “an Everton football fan with a penchant for indie music” - not sentences you often read side by side.
It claimed his “clean cut image was tarnished” over the expenses scandal, but that “the move to the Department of Health came as a reward for denouncing the decision of James Purnell, his close friend”. Let’s hope he agrees.
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