Will John Healey be the next Foreign Secretary of the UK in 2026? Odds jumped to 11% on Jul 15, 2026

EXC: John Healey is being tipped by Burnham insiders as the next Foreign Secretary. • • He could be brought back as part of a New Labour switcheroo, moving Yvette Cooper to the Treasury and leaving Shabana Mahmood in the Home Office. • • Healey is understood to have held talks with Burnham on international issues in the last few weeks. He is part of the solution to Burnham's headache over how to avoid making Ed Miliband Chancellor of the Exchequer. • • Healey has made no secret of the fact that he would like to return to government, and has been tipped for a wide variety of roles, including Home Secretary and Chief Whip. • • But Burnham's team thinks it might make sense to bring him into the FCDO, a department Burnham has less interest in, given his previous experience at the MoD. • • An ally of Healey said: “John is widely respected by allies, from Kyiv to Canberra”.