Ex-anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq slams Burnham's 'unceremonious sacking of competent people' in reshuffle

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come under fire from a former Labour minister following a sweeping overhaul of his government.

Burnham officially took office last Monday and has since moved to remove most of Keir Starmer's allies from positions of power. This week, he announced the full list of new parliamentary private secretaries (PPS) — MPs who act as liaisons between the government and backbench MPs — assigned to each department.

Labour's new chief whip has pledged that these junior roles will be strengthened under Burnham, with expanded responsibilities. According to Anneliese Midgeley, the appointments were made in consultation with cabinet ministers.

However, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq sharply criticised the shake-up among backbenchers.

"It's been extremely frustrating to see so many competent people unceremoniously sacked from government," Siddiq wrote on X. "This latest list showing sacked PPS' makes me despair in particular because PPS-ing is not a glamorous job and so many of these MPs just got on with it, put in the hours and would have been an asset to any Labour government."

Referring to Abena Oppong-Asare, who served as PPS for No. 10, Siddiq added: "Not to mention that the first Black woman ever to be PPS to a prime minister was removed. (Happy to be corrected if she wasn't the first but my point stands either way)."

Siddiq resigned as anti-corruption minister in Starmer's government in January 2025. She has faced scrutiny over her links to her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh accused of corruption.

In December, Bangladesh convicted Siddiq in absentia, sentencing her to two years in prison and imposing a fine over corruption allegations. She was found guilty of influencing her aunt to broker a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh — a claim she denies.

Siddiq told the BBC in December she was "absolutely baffled by the whole thing," rejecting the "malicious allegations" and insisting the process had been "flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end."

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