With Andy Burnham set to reshuffle his Cabinet as he becomes Prime Minister on Monday, we could find ourselves with a new Secretary of State
08:20, 18 Jul 2026
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn leaves 10 Downing Street after attending the final Cabinet meeting hosted by the outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Getty Images)
There is an old saying that the best referees are the ones you barely notice.
As Andy Burnham walks into Downing Street on Monday as Britain’s new Prime Minister, Hilary Benn may quietly walk out of the Northern Ireland Office. If he does, history may conclude that his greatest achievement was making one of Westminster’s most difficult jobs look almost routine.
That isn’t meant as a criticism. As we are all too well aware, in Northern Ireland, routine is often an achievement in itself.
Unlike some of his predecessors, Benn didn’t arrive to find Stormont in pieces. The institutions had already been restored after two years of political paralysis, and there was no immediate constitutional crisis demanding round-the-clock negotiations or dramatic late-night interventions.
Instead, he inherited something arguably more difficult with the task of keeping a fragile system functioning. On that front, he deserves more credit than he has received.
I’d give Benn seven out of ten. He will never be remembered in the same breath as Julian Smith, who remains the gold standard for modern Secretaries of State. Equally, he was a considerable improvement on Karen Bradley.
Benn occupied the middle ground. He has been steady, pragmatic and rarely sought headlines. Perhaps that was his greatest strength.
The role of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland should never be about dominating our local politics. Stormont exists so Northern Ireland can govern itself, and Westminster’s representatives should act as an honest broker between London and the devolved institutions, stepping in when necessary but resisting the temptation to become the story.
For much of his tenure, Hilary Benn managed exactly that.
His record on legacy perhaps best sums up his time in office. Few decisions carried greater significance than announcing a public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. It was a landmark moment, and many believed it should have happened years earlier. Whatever side of the political divide people occupy, few would dispute that it represented one of the defining decisions of his time in office.
Yet the Sean Brown case demonstrates why legacy remains one of Northern Ireland’s most impossible political minefields. His resistance to establishing a public inquiry attracted fierce criticism from nationalists and leaves his overall legacy record feeling excellent in parts but difficult to judge as a complete whole.
The same balanced assessment applies elsewhere. He helped secure improved financial settlements for Stormont and successfully navigated relations around the Windsor Framework, even as tensions could easily have escalated.
On Casement Park, while many criticised the UK Government’s handling of the Euro 2028 funding saga, it would be unfair to lay the delays solely at Benn’s door. His announcement of an additional £50 million ultimately helped breathe new life into a project many had written off altogether.
Where criticism of Benn is justified is in the latter stages of his tenure. As the months passed, he appeared to become increasingly distant from Northern Ireland. Public visits became less frequent, media opportunities reduced and, from a journalist’s perspective, he simply became less visible. Perhaps that reflected a more settled political environment.
But the political environment Benn leaves behind may be very different from the one he entered.
As Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister, Northern Ireland could find itself dealing with a Westminster government that approaches devolution through a different lens.
As I have written previously, Burnham’s political career has been built around the argument that the UK is too centralised, with too much power and investment concentrated in London and the South East. He has frequently drawn comparisons between the economic challenges facing the North of England and those facing Northern Ireland, arguing that both are symptoms of a system that leaves regions managing the consequences of decisions made elsewhere.
That argument will resonate with many at Stormont. For years, ministers from across the political divide have argued that Northern Ireland is being asked to deliver public services with insufficient resources. The Executive has repeatedly insisted there is a structural gap between what it receives and what it needs to spend.
A Prime Minister more instinctively sympathetic to those arguments would represent a significant shift in the relationship between Belfast and London. But there is a danger in assuming that means a softer Westminster.
Burnham’s approach has never been based on the idea that local politicians should simply receive more money and fewer questions. His argument has always been that power and accountability must move together, which could present a challenge for Stormont.
Northern Ireland’s political debate has often focused on what Westminster owes the Executive, be it more funding, greater flexibility, or more powers. Stormont has spent far less time examining what it actually does with the responsibilities it already holds
The repeated arguments over issues such as water charges and public service reform demonstrate the difficulty. Ministers have frequently argued that Northern Ireland needs greater autonomy while facing criticism for avoiding difficult decisions within the autonomy it already possesses.
A government led by someone like Burnham may be more willing to devolve power, but it may also be more demanding about how that power is used.
While there could be an argument for keeping Hilary Benn in the NIO, Burnham’s focus on enhanced devolution may require a new face in the office.
However, Secretaries of State do not just have to do the job; they have to be seen doing it.
The irony is that Benn’s greatest achievement may have contributed to this problem. Because Stormont was functioning, relationships were calmer, and there was no immediate crisis demanding intervention, the Secretary of State became less prominent.
But Northern Ireland has always required political attention, even when it is not making headlines.
A different style of Westminster government could bring that question into sharper focus.
Burnham’s politics are built around engagement, regional identity and challenging established assumptions about how the UK is governed. That could lead to a different conversation about Northern Ireland’s place within the Union and the relationship between Westminster and Stormont.
For much of the post-Agreement era, preserving the existing balance has often been viewed as an objective in itself and under a Burnham government, the focus may move to whether that balance is actually delivering effective government.
There are already growing discussions about whether aspects of the Good Friday Agreement’s structures make the institutions vulnerable to paralysis. Sinn Féin, Alliance, the SDLP and Ulster Unionists have all argued, in different ways, that reform may be required, although those proposals remain deeply sensitive.
A Westminster government focused on reducing institutional blockages may be more willing to engage with those arguments than previous administrations.
That does not mean immediate constitutional change or a rewriting of the settlement. But it could represent a subtle shift from simply protecting the system to asking whether the system is working.
Perhaps the most intriguing question for Benn’s successor could be whether stability remains enough.
Hilary Benn’s tenure has lacked dramatic breakthroughs, but it has also avoided institutional collapse, prolonged political deadlock, and a constitutional crisis. Northern Ireland remained stable during a period of political change in London, while relationships between Westminster, Stormont and Dublin broadly improved.
His greatest strength has also, perhaps, been his greatest weakness. He brought stability to Northern Ireland, but in doing so gradually disappeared from public view.
It may not be the most memorable political legacy, but being the Secretary of State who kept things steady is no bad epitaph.
The challenge for whoever follows him will be deciding whether steady is still enough or whether Northern Ireland now requires something more ambitious.
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