Burnham comes in at DCMS

Following the resignation of Peter Hain last week, and his replacement as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by James Purnell, Andy Burnham has been appointed as Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

In Media Guardian, Emily Bell profiles Burnham and says that, even if the faces change, the policies are likely to remain the same.

Media policy has a very tight circle of not only like-minded but astonishingly alike individuals: Tim Allan, former press aide to Alastair Campbell and head of PR at Sky, and now public relations consultant; Ed Richards, former BBC strategist, Number 10 policy unit member and now CEO of Ofcom; James Purnell, Richards' friend, his successor on media issues at Number 10 and briefly minister for culture; and now Burnham, who had advisory roles to two previous culture secretaries, Chris Smith and Tessa Jowell, and as a young MP rose rapidly to become first secretary to the Treasury in Brown's first cabinet.