Andy Burnham’s last stand

The details of the government reshuffle are currently being hammered out at the 8.30 Downing Street meeting. But as MPs and ministers nervously wait for the call from the Number 10 switchboard, Ed Miliband will be plotting his own changes to his top team for later this week. And as key Shadow Cabinet members such as Liam Byrne look vulnerable, one shadow minister who is holding on with all he’s got is Andy Burnham. The Shadow Health Secretary is very popular with the party’s grassroots, but he is also politically vulnerable because of his connections to the previous Labour government. But though Ed Miliband failed to publicly back Burnham at the party’s conference, his colleague has in the past few days launched an offensive on his detractors that also makes it more difficult to move him.

His announcement that he is considering legal action against ‘smears’ by Jeremy Hunt would be undermined were Miliband to move him, as the move would be widely down to Burnham’s past, not his abilities as a campaigning shadow minister.