Andy Burnham has appointed the first cabinet of his premiership, making history by achieving gender parity for the first time in British political history. Half of the cabinet is female, a significant shift from previous governments, although critics note that the replacement of Rachel Reeves with John Healey as chancellor means one fewer woman among the four great offices of state.
The north-west of England is overrepresented in Burnham's cabinet, with just over a quarter of posts held by MPs from the region, compared to only 11% of the UK population living there. This reflects Burnham's power base as former Greater Manchester mayor, and contrasts with Rishi Sunak's cabinet which included only two northern MPs.
Educationally, 22% of the cabinet attended private school, more than three times the rate among the general population, but still below the Conservative era. Burnham himself studied at Cambridge rather than Oxford, but Oxbridge alumni make up more than half of his cabinet, similar to Sunak's cabinet and higher than under Liz Truss or Boris Johnson.
Ethnic diversity has increased, with 14% of the cabinet from a black or minority ethnic background, roughly mirroring the UK population's 16%. This includes the home secretary Shabana Mahmood, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, and AI minister Kanishka Narayan. However, it falls short of the level achieved by Sunak, Britain's first prime minister of colour.
