After the last parliamentary election, it took the Dutch seven months to form a (shady) coalition government. Having won an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons on July 4, 2024 Keir Starmer and the Labour Party wasted no time. Within 24 hours, they managed to present the first Labour cabinet led by Keir Starmer.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer
The first cabinet of Keir Starmer includes obviously the Labour leader Keir Starmer as prime minister. He is the most popular politician in the UK (Yougov poll published on July 5). But even he is viewed favorably by only 36% of voters, 54% have an unfavorable view of him; overall: -18. Everything is relative. In comparison, Rishi Sunak had an unpopularity level of -53!
The expectations are very low. In an early June Yougov poll, only 23% of Britons said they thought he would be “good” or “great” prime minister, 30% expected him to be an “average” PM, while 33% expected him to be “poor” or “terrible”.
Born in Oxted (Surrey), Keir Starmer (*September 2, 1962) is the son of a toolmaker and a nurse. He trained as a barrister, specializing in human rights cases. He served as director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-13 before becoming the MP for London’s Holborn and St Pancras constituency in 2015. As Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, he advocated a second referendum on Brexit. In 2020, he replaced the far-left Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader and, subsequently, repositioned the party more to the political center. However, in 2022, Keir Starmer embraced Brexit, a recipe for continued economic and financial problems.
As a politician, Keir Starmer has no executive experience. He has not served as mayor of a city or led a ministry.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner (née Bowen; *March 28, 1980) was born in Stockport (Greater Manchester). She said her mother, a single mom, could neither read nor write. That’s why they had no books at home. At age 16, Angela Rayner dropped out of school without any qualification because she was expecting a baby. According the the HuffPost UK, Angela Rayner later studied part-time at Stockport College, learning British Sign Language and gaining an NVQ Level 2 in social care.
According to The Guardian, for several years, Angela Rayner worked for the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker. Later, she became a full-time Unison (trade union) representative at Stockport council and later convenor of Unison North West.
In 2015, as a Labour candidate, Angela Raynor became an MP in the House of Commons for Ashton-under-Lyne (Greater Manchester). In the 2016 Labour leadership contest, she was one of only 18 MPs to back the far-left Jeremy Corbyn. Angela Rayner self-identifies as a pragmatic, «soft-left» socialist.
In Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet, she served as Shadow Secretary of State for Education. In the 2020 Labour leadership election, she supported Rebecca Long-Bailey, who finished second behind Keir Starmer. Nevertheless, Angela Raynor was elected Deputy Leader.
After the July 2024 Labour House of Commons election victory, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities by PM Keir Starmer.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves (*February 13, 1979 in the south London Borough of Lewisham) is the first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) of the United Kingdom.
Rachel Reeves is the daughter of two teachers. She joined the Labour Party at age 16. She read philosophy, politics and economics at New College, Oxford (Bachelor of Arts) and later obtained a Master of Science from the London School of Economics.
Her first post-university job was with the Bank of England. In 2006, she moved to Leeds to work for HBOS. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds West and Pudsey, previously Leeds West, since 2010. In the 2016 Labour leadership contest, she supported Owen Smith against Jeremy Corbyn.
When Keir Starmer became Labour leader in 2020, Rachel Reeves was first appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with responsibility for Labour’s response to Brexit. In 2021, she became Keir Starmer’s Shadow Chancellor.
In 2022, Rachel Reeves told the Financial Times that a Keir Starmer cabinet would be pro-business and committed to fiscal discipline. She also told the FT that, in her opinion, Britain would rejoin the European Union or its single market in the next 50 years. She said she was against the return of freedom of movement for workers between the UK and EU. That is a recipe for disaster. Rejoin would be best for the UK and the EU.
The New Statesman reported in 2022 that Rachel Reeves adhered to «modern supply-side economics», focusing on infrastructure, education and labour supply by rejecting tax cuts and deregulation. She also said that she is inspired by Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Rachel Reeves said that globalization has failed whereas, in reality, it has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in China alone.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy
David Lammy (*July 19, 1972) was born to Guyanese parents in north London. He was raised by a single mother from the age of 12 after his father had left them.
David Lammy attended the King’s School in Peterborough and studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. He was called to the bar in 1994. Subsequently, he became the first black Briton to obtain a master at Harvard Law School.
Elected in Tottenham (London) in 2000, at 27, David Lammy became the youngest MP in the House of Commons. Subsequently, he held several junior ministerial positions in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
David Lammy endorsed Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership contest. After Putin’s escalation of the war against Ukraine in 2022, he said Labour had an «iron-clad commitment» to supporting Ukraine.
In a 2018 Time article, David Lammy explained why he was protesting Donald Trump‘s UK visit: «Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.»
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper (*March 20, 1969) was born in Inverness, Scotland. Her father is a former General Secretary of the Prospect trade union, a former non-executive director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and a former Chairman of the British Nuclear Industry Forum. He was also a government adviser on the Energy Advisory Panel. Her mother, June, was a maths teacher.
In 1990, Yvette Cooper’s career started as an economic policy researcher for Shadow Chancellor John Smith. In 1992, she moved to the USA to work in Arkansas for Bill Clinton, presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. In 1993, she became a policy advisor to then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Harriet Harman.
In 1995, Yvette Cooper became the chief economics correspondent of The Independent. In 1997, she ended her career as a journalist because, as a Labour candidate, she was elected MP for the Yorkshire seat of Pontefract and Castleford.
She served as the first female Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the Labour government (2008-08) and, subsequently, as work and pensions secretary (2009-2010). After Labour’s 2010 House of Commons defeat, she became shadow home secretary.
In 1998, Yvette Cooper had married Ed Balls. From 2007 until 2010, he served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Therefore, Cooper and Balls were the first married couple in the cabinet.
Pat McFadden is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Pat McFadden (*March 26, 1965) is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, responsible for message discipline. He is considered one of the masterminds of Labour’s 2024 election victory.
Pat McFadden is a fomer business minister under Gordon Brown. Now, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he will coordinate the government’s policies, in support of the prime minister. As former political secretary to then PM Tony Blair, Pat McFadden is now in a role he should be able to master.
In the House of Commons, the Glasgow-born Pat McFadden has been representing the Wolverhampton South East constituency since 2005.
Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood (*September 17, 1980) is a former barrister and, therefore for some, qualified to serve as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. The BBC noted that, as a former national campaign coordinator, she oversaw Labour’s Batley & Spen by-election win in 2021 which some have credited with saving Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership following a defeat in Hartlepool months earlier.
Shabana Mahmood is a female Muslim representing the Birmingham Ladywood constituency in the House of Commons. She was born and raised in Birmingham together with her twin brother.
Shabana Mahmood is a strong supporter of Palestinian rights, she has been critical of Israel’s new Gaza war, she hand strong criticism of the Indian government over Kashmir, and she is a critic of school teachings regarding LGBTQ+.
Defence Secretary John Healey
John Healey (*February 13, 1960) is the new Defence Secretary on Keir Starmers first cabinet. He is the son of Aidan Healey OBE.
John Healey studied Social and Political Science at Christ’s College in Cambridge where he received a BA in 1982.
In 1983, John Healey worked as a journalist and deputy editor of The House, the internal magazine of the Palace of Westminster. The following year, he became a disability rights campaigner for several national charities.
In 1990, John Healey joined Issues Communications as a campaign manager before becoming the head of communications at the Manufacturing, Science and Finance trade union in 1992. In 1994, he was appointed as the campaign director with the Trades Union Congress.
In 1992, John Healey only finished third in House of Commons election in the constituency of Ryedale. But, in 1997, John Healey finally became a Member of Parliament for the South Yorkshire constituencies Wentworth, later Wentworth and Dearne (created in 2010), now Rawmarsh and Conisbrough (first contested in 2024).
John Healey spoke out strongly in favor of higher defence spending. He criticized cuts to the size of the British Army. Together with the new Foreign Secretary David Lammy, he underlined the importance of the United Kingdom’s support for Ukraine.
John Healey served in Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments as well as in Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinets.
The BBC reported that John Healey voted in favor of UK participation in the Iraq War in 2003 but says more should have been done to «follow through with the diplomatic, economic redevelopment regeneration and long-term security for Iraq».
The new Health Secretary Wes Streeting
As the new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting (*January 21, 1983) occupies a key position in Keir Starmer’s cabinet. The reform of the NHS is one of this government’s most important tasks.
As the son of teenage parents, Wes Streeting was born and brought up in Stepney, London. He is gay.
Appointed Shadow Health Secretary in November 2021, Wes Streeting (rightly) said that he would not «pretend the NHS was the envy of the world», stressing the need for reform.
In 2021, at the young age of 38, Wes Streeting was diagnosed and treated for kidney cancer. In his honest, funny and uplifting memoir, One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up: A Memoir of Growing Up and Getting On (2023; accept cookies – we receive a commission without a higher price – to order it from Amazon.co.uk), Wes Streeting writes about growing up in a council flat in London’s East End as a Christian, gay boy, visiting his bank robber grandfather in jail (one of his grandmother’s also served jail-time), fighting to find his way out of poverty.
First elected to the House of Commons in 2015 for the constituency of Ilford North, Wes Streeting had previously been president of the National Union of Students, and served as a London councillor.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
Bridget Phillipson is sthe new Education Secretary. She was raised her mother in a council house in Sunderland. According to the BBC, her modest home had rotting window frames and no upstairs heating.
She studied modern history in Oxford and became a member of the Labour Party at the tender age of 15. Eleven years later, in 2010, she won the seat of the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South.
Bridget Phillipson has praised her former teachers who encouraged her to study in Oxford. The BBC wrote that she said that children won’t get «a first-class education in second-class schools». Hundreds of schools had to close as a result of crumbling concrete.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband (*December 24, 1969) is the new Secretary of state for Energy Security and Net Zero. He is a household name not because he has been an MP for Doncaster North since 2005, but because he was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in Gordon Brown’s cabinet from 2007 to 2010.
The Miliband brothers were born in the Fitzrovia district of Central London to Polish Jewish immigrants Marion Kozak and Ralph Miliband, a Marxist intellectual and native of Brussels who fled Belgium during World War II.
Ed Miliband graduated from Corpus Christi College in Oxford and later from the London School of Economics. He first worked as a television journalist before becoming a Labour Party researcher and a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Subsequently, he became one of Chancellor Gordon Brown’s confidants and chairman of HM Treasury’s Council of Economic Advisers.
In 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair made Ed Miliband Minister for the Third Sector. One year later, Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and appointed Miliband Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. From 2008 until 2010, he served as the first Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. In 2024, Ed Miliband follows on from his last ministerial job.
Jonathan Reynolds is the new Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Jonathan Neil Reynolds (*August 28, 1980) is the new Secretary of State for Business and Trade. The job title even rhymes. I wish I could say the same of Keir Starmer’s position towards Brexit adopted in 2022. Read here why Starmer and Reynolds should work towards Rejoin.
Jonathan Reynolds was born in Sunderland and studied Politics and Modern History at the University of Manchester and at the private BPP Law School in Manchester. After leaving university Reynolds worked for the council and (former MP) James Purnell, before beginning training as a solicitor. He has served as MP for Stalybridge and Hyde (Greater Manchester) since 2010. Since then, he has been a member of several shadow cabinets. He described himself as a Christian socialist.
The remaining members of Keir Starmer’s first cabinet
The other members of Keir Starmer’s first cabinet include Liz Kendall as Work and Pensions Secretary, Peter Kyle as Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, Louise Haigh as Transport Secretary, Steve Reed as Environment Secretary, Lisa Nandy as Culture Secretary, Hilary Benn as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ian Murray as Secretary of State for Scotland, Jo Stevens Secretary as Secretary of State for Wales, Lucy Powell as Leader of the Commons as well as Baroness Smith of Basildon as Leader of the House of Lords.
In addition, four more ministers also attend cabinet: Richard Hermer, Attorney General for England and Wales, Advocate General for Northern Ireland; Sir Alan Campbell, Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury; Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury; and Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Development.
Let’s wait and see what this brand new Labour government can do. Expectations are low. The United Kingdom needs a fresh start. Keir Starmer has formed his cabinet with lightning speed. At least this is encouraging. Let’s hope the new prime minister understands that he was only elected by 20% of all voters, if we consider that 40% of registered voters did not go to the polls. In any case, Rejoin must come back on the agenda. It will not happen overnight. Brexit was and remains a fantasy (details here). There are good reasons why, on January 1, 1973 the UK joined what was then called the European Communities.
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Official portrait of Keir Starmer. Photograph taken by Chris McAndrew in June 2017. Public domain.
Article added on July 7, 2024 at 19:45 German time.
