00:00Let's talk to the political commentator and analyst Alistair Jones.
00:04Alistair, welcome back. What do these new appointments to the top jobs say about the UK's direction of travel?
00:11I think what Andy Burnham is saying is we've got a new way of doing things.
00:16I mean, he has purged all the Starmerites, all those who are absolutely loyal to Keir Starmer.
00:21They've almost all gone, disappeared altogether, not even being offered other alternative posts,
00:26so the likes of Darren Jones, for example, who'd been the number two in the Treasury.
00:30So what he is saying is I've got people who are capable of delivering and appearing to deliver as well
00:36as actually doing so,
00:37and I think he sees that as being the biggest failure of the previous regime,
00:41is that they may have been doing some of the delivery, but they weren't seen to be doing so.
00:46And he's got a team here that are actually going to be capable of delivering and being seen to do
00:50so.
00:51The appointments of the new Foreign Secretary is coming under scrutiny.
00:55What do you make of the appointments of Ed Miliband?
00:58And more to the point, what will other countries make of it?
01:02I think the United States are a little wary, Donald Trump in particular,
01:07because Ed Miliband is very much a green net zero type person.
01:12Having said that, Ed Miliband is actually quite pro-US, a lot more than people realise.
01:17And I think what we're going to see is someone who's going to be given a freer hand to represent
01:23the UK around the world,
01:24where Andy Burnham will want to concentrate on domestic politics.
01:28Ed Miliband is going to be the representative of Britain around the world,
01:32and he's going to be engaging with other countries.
01:34He knows the importance of China, of Japan, of the United States,
01:38and also some of the rising powers in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa and India.
01:45So he knows about all of those, and he will be able to engage with many of the governments in
01:50those countries,
01:51and that will enhance Britain's reputation around the world.
01:54The appointment of John Healy as Chancellor, the Finance Minister,
01:59what does that say about Burnham's economic priorities?
02:03I think what it shows is that he's picked someone who has resigned over money,
02:09resigning as Defence Secretary because not enough money was being spent on Defence.
02:13So in some respects, he's given him a bit of a poison chalice.
02:16So spend some more money on Defence then.
02:18You make the cut.
02:20You wanted that money to go into Defence, do so.
02:22At the same time, he's also suddenly announced a cut on taxes, on electricity bills,
02:27so a value-added tax that we have.
02:29That is now going.
02:30So he's suddenly left his Chancellor with a bit of a black hole to fill.
02:34So he's rewarded loyalty to him,
02:37but at the same time, he's handed over a bit of a poison chalice.
02:40What we suspect we will see is a lot more, a bigger role for the public sector in the delivery
02:47of services,
02:48and less so being reliant on the private sector,
02:50as has been the case for the last 30 or 40 years.
02:54The thing is, you can have your agenda, can't you, Alastair?
02:56Governments get knocked off course by what one former Prime Minister described as events, dear boy, events.
03:03Stuff happens, Ukraine, the Middle East and energy crisis,
03:06and suddenly it doesn't matter who you've appointed or how good they are.
03:11Absolutely the case, Jamie.
03:13I think in this particular circumstance, what other events might we have?
03:17So Iran is going to carry on going, the Straits of Hormuz is going to be a huge problem for
03:22a long time to come,
03:23as is the situation in Ukraine.
03:25So the issue becomes, what else might happen next,
03:29and how do you, I'm going to say protect yourself from those types of events, but you can't.
03:33But how can you prepare to protect yourself?
03:36And that's something that the whole of government needs to be trying to work out how to do.
03:41Something that's been neglected for the last three or four governments is this bit of future-proofing.
03:47So we weren't prepared for COVID,
03:48even though previous governments have highlighted the importance of preparing for any such pandemic
03:53that have been let lapsed by the Boris Johnson government.
03:56So it's about preparing for what might occur,
03:59being ready to respond more swiftly and more adeptly.
04:03And I think that's something that Andy Burnham's team are well aware that they've got to do.
04:08Alistair, thank you.
04:09The political commentator, Alistair Jones.
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