Declassified UK: Out with the old, in with the old

Out with the old, in with the old

Britain’s new government has been formed.

Earlier this week, Andy Burnham officially became the new prime minister and unveiled his cabinet.

He came promising hope and change. His appointments provide the first test of that promise.

The first change to the top team was the chancellor. Rachel Reeves was replaced by John Healey, the former defence secretary.

It was under Healey’s watch that the Labour government continued the RAF spy flights over Gaza, supplying intelligence to Israel as it pummeled the territory.

Healey also cultivated close ties with his Israeli counterparts. Documents obtained by Declassified show that in 2024, he sought to “progress our bilateral Defence relationship”.

In this new administration, support for, and complicity in genocide appear to be rewarded with promotion rather than punishment.

Healey’s replacement as defence secretary is Wes Streeting. Earlier this year, as health secretary, he released messages that show him saying “Israel is committing war crimes before our eyes”. Yet he carried on serving in a government marked by a reluctance to pursue accountability for those responsible.  

It remains to be seen how he will use the influence afforded by his new role.

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The biggest surprise came with the appointment of the new Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband. Any hope that he would advance a more radical approach, however, was quickly dispelled by his first official statement.

He made clear his opposition to “Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine” before reverting to the more artificially balanced language of the “conflict in the Middle East” and the “terrible suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza”, a tone indistinguishable from the passive indifference of his predecessors over the past several decades.

If nothing else, it is a fitting appointment for a prime minister who refuses to describe the reality in Gaza as a genocide.

Elsewhere, Shabana Mahmood remained Home Secretary, whose aggressive pursuit of Palestine Action proved no obstacle to her reappointment.

And as the dust settled on the appointments, it emerged that Andy Burnham had authorised British military bases to support US strikes against Iran, continuing Keir Starmer’s policy of making UK territory available for American wars.

So whilst the nation was promised a circuit breaker by the new prime minister, all indications are that the current is flowing exactly as before.

Hamza Yusuf

Regular Contributor
Declassified UK

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