Andy Burnham chooses Labour Friends of Israel ex-chair as chief of staff, report says
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James Purnell was a cabinet minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
Britain's then secretary of state for work and pensions, James Purnell, makes a statement to the press in central London, on 24 January 2008 (Shaun Curry/AFP)
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Andy Burnham has reportedly asked former minister James Purnell, who was once chair of the Labour Friends of Israel group and has been the chief executive of a major lobbying firm, to be his chief of staff.
Burnham, who is likely to replace Keir Starmer as the British prime minister by 17 July, is preparing his team for government and is working with figures from different sides of the Labour Party.
Burnham's current allies include Josh Simons, the former director of the think tank Labour Together, which is widely credited with propelling Starmer to power, but also MP Louise Haigh, reportedly a victim of the Labour Together machine.
Chief of staff is a crucial role and would make Purnell Burnham's right-hand man. According to the Guardian, Purnell has indicated he will accept the role.
Purnell was a minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the 2000s. He shared an office with Burnham, a fellow minister, in the Blair years.
He became the BBC's director of strategy in 2013, and then chief executive of the lobbying firm Flint Global in 2024.
He reportedly resigned on Wednesday as a director of Flint Global.
In government, Purnell served as culture secretary and at the Department for Work and Pensions. He is said to be on the right of the Labour Party.
As an MP, Purnell voted for the invasion of Iraq and served as chair of the parliamentary lobby group Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) for two years.
In 2002, as LFI chair, he visited Israel. In an account of the trip, he described visiting a kibbutz: "From their communal dining room, we can see the minaret of the local Arab village. They have a joint kindergarten, a joint football team too.
"After lunch, our host shows us the spot where one warm evening last month a young Arab, not from the village, entered the kibbutz and shot five people."
Purnell met former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on the trip, and witnessed the "American ambassador lecturing the Israelis about settlements - unthinkable 10 years ago, unsurprising today".
He said peace could be secured through "goodwill - and only a commitment by the Palestinian Authority to doing everything to deal with terrorism will deliver it".
In Jerusalem, however, he noted that "Palestinians live on less than $1,000 a year, and malnutrition is appearing. No one knows how to get that goodwill".
What course will Burnham take on foreign policy?
Burnham himself was once a member of LFI, as are many Labour MPs today.
But Burnham is also a longtime supporter of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) and visited the occupied West Bank in 2012 with the group.
How Andy Burnham could set Britain on a new course on Israel and Palestine
»
Burnham has previously shown a serious interest in British foreign policy on the Middle East, and a willingness to take a more critical stance on Israel.
As Greater Manchester mayor, he broke ranks with the Labour leadership in October 2023 by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, in tandem with London mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
He has been notably reticent to speak about foreign policy in the past few weeks. He and his team believed doing so would not help him win his by-election in Makerfield, a largely white working-class seat, according to Labour sources.
However, Burnham will likely turn seriously to the topic of foreign policy as he prepares for his premiership.
Some commentators believe he may seek to adopt a stronger policy on Israel to distinguish himself from his predecessor and try to win back Labour voters who have switched to the Green Party or independents.
But he has not yet selected his foreign secretary. The situation is constantly evolving, and more appointments are expected in the coming days.
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