Ellen Gibson

EXCLUSIVE with @ChaplainChloe Louise Haigh, Andy Burnham’s top aide, advised him not to appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor, according to five people familiar with conversations in Burnham’s team. Anneliese Midgley, another close Burnham adviser, was also opposed to Miliband as chancellor, say two of the people. The opposition from Burnham’s inner circle means Shabana Mahmood is now expected to get the job. One Burnham ally suggests the extraordinary blow-up is because Haigh, Midgley and Burnham, while broadly on the Labour left, have different politics to Miliband because they are working class northerners with close trade union links and he is a London liberal who prioritises net zero and for that reason is politically risky. Several unions oppose Miliband as chancellor. Haigh is the person standing in the way of “chaos with Ed Miliband,” a Burnham supporter says. Burnham’s spokesperson rejects that characterisation of Haigh and Midgley’s views. They insist Burnham has still not made his decision. The indications that Burnham is going for Mahmood over Miliband are already provoking a furious reaction from the Labour soft-left from which he derives much of his support. People in that grouping say not appointing Miliband undermines Burnham’s promise of radical change and that Mahmood will make it much harder to win back votes from the Greens. @Johnmcternan says “it would be insane” not to appoint Miliband as chancellor. “Do you want to run the treasury or do you want the treasury to run you? The choice is Ed Miliband or the treasury view.” bloomberg.com/news/articles/…