Commenting after the Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June, Mr Barnett said: "The new health secretary will face some major challenges as finances are squeezed and we look forward to working closely with him and his team to ensure that the NHS carries on delivering world class care for patients and remains a service we are all proud of.”
Career
Mr Burnham has had a very swift career progression and after two years in the Cabinet is still only 39. He is a passionate Everton fan and sport and health have been the major elements in his career. His new job is his fifth in health.
He worked for Tessa Jowell in opposition and for part of the time she was a health spokesperson. After the 1997 general election he worked for the NHS Confederation as its parliamentary officer for a short time before becoming the administrator of the Football Task Force and then going to work for Chris Smith in Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 1998.
In 2001 he became the MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester. He served for two years on the Health Select Committee before becoming a parliamentary private secretary in 2003 to David Blunkett and then Ruth Kelly before becoming a junior minister in the Home Office for a year. He was then a minister of state at health for a year until the changeover in 2007.
He was then chief secretary to the Treasury for nine months before taking over at DCMS in the reshuffle following from Peter Hain’s resignation.
Health
As a minister, he had a good relationship with the NHS Confederation and met with us regularly formally and informally. He was instrumental in the important reforms of that era such as 18 weeks and was an early proponent of the NHS Constitution as a way of reassuring patients and staff about reforms.