Westminster Musical Chairs: Unions Try to Grab the Bag as Burnham Slides Into No 10
Unison wants Ed Miliband running the Treasury so they can get public money, but corporate suits are pushing Blairite Wes Streeting to keep the privatization hustle alive.

Alright, let's keep it one hundred: the politicians in Westminster are back at it again, playing high-stakes musical chairs with the country's money bag. On Monday, Keir Starmer announced he's packin' his bags and leaving the PM spot. Now, man like Andy Burnham—who literally just won his seat as the MP for Makerfield a week ago—is already lined up to take the crown and move into No 10 as early as next month. But before he even gets the keys, the big bosses at the unions are already trying to run his pockets.
Unison, which is the biggest trade union in the whole UK, just threw their weight behind Ed Miliband to be the next Chancellor. Unison's general secretary, Andrea Egan, didn't stutter when she said Burnham's historic chance to fix the country is going to be 'squandered' if he fills his government with the same old suits who ran the economy into the ground. She’s saying Miliband is the only guy on the ballot who will actually reinvest in the communities and rewire the system for the working class.
According to the rules dropped by Labour's ruling committee on Thursday, if nobody else steps up to challenge Burnham, he’s officially the boss on July 17. But if another MP can get 81 signatures to challenge him, they gotta run a whole election that goes until August 29. Either way, the biggest decision Burnham has to make right now is choosing his Chancellor, and everybody from corporate investors to regular folks on the street is watching closely.
But the drama is real because the unions are already beefing among themselves. While Unison is riding hard for Miliband, two other massive unions—GMB and Unite—are straight up opposing him. They’re split on who should hold the checkbook, which is a wild look when you’re trying to show a united front.
On the other side of the track, you got Wes Streeting trying to secure the bag. Streeting is a straight-up Blairite who, back when he was Health Secretary, was all about bringing private companies into the NHS. The big international investors and corporate businesses love him because they think he’s a safe bet to keep the markets happy. But folks on the left are terrified that if Streeting gets the Treasury, he’s going to let his corporate buddies run wild and completely abandon plans to bring water and energy companies back under public control.
To make things even more shady, Burnham already looked out for his day-ones by hiring his long-term homie James Purnell as his chief of staff. Purnell has deep Blairite roots, and that move has already got the left wing of the party absolutely fuming. They’re looking at Burnham like he's already selling out before his first day on the job.

