New PM Andy Burnham has announced his new cabinet after becoming Prime Minister yesterday.

Yvette Cooper is now Health Secretary, having previously served as Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary in Starmer's government. An MP since 1997, she was also a minister in the Blair and Brown governments.

Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been appointed Defence Secretary. Streeting quit as Health Secretary in Starmer's government saying he had lost confidence in the PM. He was expected to launch his own bid for leader of the party, but then backed Burnham.

James Murray, who served as Health Secretary for two months following Streeting's resignation, is no longer in the cabinet.

Cooper served as Home Secretary under Starmer from the election win in July 2024 until a reshuffle in September 2025 following Angela Rayner's resignation. As Home Secretary Cooper scrapped the Rwanda asylum plan and announced that the Border Security Command would be established. She held the role during the Southport attack and subsequent riots. She also proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

Cooper was then appointed Foreign Secretary in a reshuffle after Angela Rayner resigned as Housing Secretary and Deputy PM, making her the first woman in the UK to have held both the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary roles.

As Foreign Secretary, Cooper oversaw the government's decision to recognise the state of Palestine and publicly identified China as a national security.

In 1999, under Tony Blair, Cooper was made Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health, where she helped to implement the Sure Start programme. In this position, she was the first government minister to take maternity leave.

Following Labour's defeat in 2010, Cooper served several positions in the Shadow cabinets of Ed Miliband and Keir Starmer.

She is married to former minister and now Good Morning Britain and podcast host Ed Balls.

Posting on X, Cooper said: "It’s a real honour to be appointed Health Secretary by Andy Burnham - 27 years after I worked on the first NHS Cancer Plan as a junior health minister.

"I’m looking forward to working urgently to improve maternity services, to take forward plans for social care, and to once again play a part in supporting our National Health Service, Labour’s proudest achievement.

"Most of all I’m looking forward to working with the dedicated NHS staff, carers, healthcare professionals and volunteers on whom we all depend."