Wes Streeting is to hand Alan Milburn a lead role in the running of his health ministry, in a move that has reignited the row over Labour figures with private interests having access to government. The health secretary is preparing to appoint Milburn, who was a radical reformer of the NHS in his time in that post under Tony Blair, as the lead non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). That will give Milburn an official position after months when he has caused disquiet at the DHSC and NHS England by attending meetings of both organisations despite having no formal role, such as that of a minister or special adviser.
It will formalise the ex-health secretary’s longstanding status as a key adviser to Streeting as he seeks to drive through his promised “three big shifts” in how the NHS operates. But the Conservatives criticised the move as “jobs for the boys” and said it showed that Labour view government business as “a gravy train for your mates”. Milburn’s strong belief in using private healthcare to tackle the NHS treatment backlog and the fact that he is a consultant to various companies could trigger claims that his role at the DHSC puts him at risk of being exposed to conflicts of interest between his public and private sector activities. Streeting is expected to announce Milburn shortly as one of three new non-executive directors (NEDs) joining his department’s board, to provide “the collective strategic and operational leadership of DHSC”. Interviews for the roles – which involve two or three days work a month and are paid £15,000-a-year – are being held on Friday 25 October. “Alan Milburn’s a shoo-in to join the DHSC board. He’ll be the lead NED. It’s going to happen. It just hasn’t happened yet,” said a Whitehall source with knowledge of the impending appointment. Milburn has been using his long experience in health to advise Streeting since Labour were in opposition. But he has been without an official role since Keir Starmer won the election in July and been operating since then as what one Conservative source called “an unregulated adviser”. In his post-election informal advisory role he has also had access to DHSC documents, the Sunday Times reported last month. One health policy expert, who used to work at the DHSC, said: “There is a recognition that they need to formalise Milburn’s role so he can do more directly, particularly on the new strategy function that brings bits of DHSC and NHSE together to work on the [forthcoming NHS] 10-year plan and three shifts. “A NED or lead NED role at DHSC is an obvious route for that.” Milburn’s appointment will revive concerns about access to government given to people who are closely associated with Labour and also have private interests. Since taking power, Starmer’s government has faced controversy for briefly giving a No 10 pass to Labour donor Waheed Alli, a businessman with media interests who also personally funded clothing and accommodation for Starmer. The Treasury was also criticised for giving a civil service job to Ian Corfield, a Labour donor and businessman, who was subsequently made an unpaid political adviser after an outcry. Tory MP Saqib Bhatti, a shadow health minister, said: “Government business is not a gravy train for your mates. It is a pity Wes Streeting is more focused it seems on handing out jobs for the boys than the millions of pensioners who will suffer this winter because of this Labour government.” Milburn and his family have earned more than £5m in dividends since 2017 from AM Strategy, his consultancy firm. And its last available accounts show that it had net assets of about £4m in 2023. Companies House filings do not show who its clients are. But Milburn is a longstanding adviser to Bridgepoint Capital, which owns Care UK – a large operator of care homes – and also PwC’s health practice. He has also worked for Mars Incorporated, the chocolate maker, and Centene Corporation, a US healthcare company. He was also on the board of Huma, a digital healthcare company, until last year. While still an MP until 2010 he declared payments of at least £25,000 a year to sit on the board of LloydsPharmacy. He was also a member of the advisory board of soft drinks firm PepsiCo UK, and was paid about £20,000 a year from 2005 to 2012. Keep Our NHS Public, a campaign group, said giving Milburn a key role in developing policy around the NHS would show that Labour plans to follow the Tories in “undermining it” through giving private healthcare a significant role in providing NHS care and reducing delays, which Streeting supports, as happened when Milburn was the health secretary. Private hospitals already carry out up to 20% of all planned operations on NHS patients in some parts of England. “Wes Streeting has made it clear that he intends to promote a two-tier health service by sending patients to the private sector. This is an imitation of Alan Milburn’s approach under New Labour when he extended outsourcing of services and sought to build a market in health care,” said Dr John Puntis, the group’s co-chair. “Milburn now returning to a key position of influence indicates that Labour seeks to repeat the mistakes of the past, no doubt at the behest of those businesses that will profit, and to continue the Conservatives’ strategy of undermining the NHS through underfunding, while flying the famous banner of ‘reform’.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Given this government has inherited a broken NHS with some of the longest waiting lists and lowest patient satisfaction ever, we make no apology for seeking advice from people who have turned it around before and we thank them for their time in doing so.”