Andy Burnham's decision to appoint John Healey to the crucial role of chancellor of the exchequer was the rarest of things at Westminster - a genuine surprise. It's not that the 66-year-old lacked experience or credibility - just that he had not been seen as a likely contender, with all the speculation about who would replace Rachel Reeves centring on more high-profile figures. Healey had flown under the radar since his explosive resignation as Sir Keir Starmer's defence secretary in June this year.
His assessment of the government's defence investment plan - that it fell "well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time" - was devastating and undoubtedly hastened Sir Keir's departure from Downing Street. But his resignation letter also included pointed criticism of Reeves's Treasury, which he said had been "unwilling" to "commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats". Now he is in the Treasury hot seat and under pressure to spell out how he will get defence spending up to 3% of national income, at the same time as cutting government borrowing costs and tackling the cost of living.
Like his predecessor, he faces the difficult balancing act of keeping Labour MPs happy without spooking the financial markets, while delivering on the government's key priorities. Never the flashiest of politicians, his early speeches as chancellor have been focused on stressing his commitment to fiscal discipline and cutting the welfare bill, as well as banging the drum for Burnham's plan to "reindustrialise" Britain. But he did show his lighter side in a social media video with the prime minister, which saw "Andy and John" bantering about twiglets and scampi fries in the pub., external "I will always stand by my political choices as chancellor, including pork scratchings as the best pub snack," he revealed on X.
What is the Budget and what could be in it? Best thing we can offer young people is a job, not benefits, says chancellor The softly-spoken Yorkshireman has a remarkable record as someone who has been on the Labour frontbench almost continuously since 2001. Born in Wakefield in 1960 and educated at Lady Lumley's Comprehensive School, Pickering, and Peter's School in York, he studied social and political science at Christ's College, Cambridge.
Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist, briefly editing Parliament's in-house magazine The House, before becoming a disability rights campaigner and trade union official. He first came into Parliament in Tony Blair's landslide general election in 1997 as MP for Wentworth, a former mining area north of Sheffield, which following boundary changes is now Rawmarsh and Conisbrough. He retained the seat with a majority of 6,908 in the 2024 general election, with a Reform UK candidate in second place.
In the early 2000s, he held a string of ministerial posts, including housing, local government in the Blair and Gordon Brown governments. He spent five years at Brown's Treasury where he oversaw policies such as the child trust funds and attempts to regenerate and devolve power - the Regional Development Agencies, later scrapped by the coalition government. Speaking to the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson earlier this month, Healey said: "The Treasury's a paradox.
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