‘I was on my honeymoon!’: Hamish Falconer’s surprise call-up to Burnham’s cabinet

New EU negotiator, who previously helped free Taliban hostages, thought it was safe to book holiday during recess Labour seeking ‘deeper relationship’ with EU under Burnham, new minister says When Hamish Falconer left his career as a Foreign Office diplomat for the hostile environment of a Labour party selection process, one of his last acts was a negotiation to free six hostages from the Taliban. When he won the key marginal seat of Lincoln in the 2024 general election, he did not expect to be back in those offices on King Charles Street quite so quickly – he was appointed Middle East minister just two weeks later. Two years on, he is one among the first three of his generation of MPs to reach the cabinet, and he is back around the negotiating table, this time with the EU. One of his oldest friends, Anneliese Midgley, is another of the three MPs from the 2024 intake to reach the cabinet, as Andy Burnham’s chief whip. Falconer had trusted Midgley – a close confidant of Burnham – to keep him in the loop about cabinet moves. But the tight secrecy of Burnham’s first appointment meant that he was caught off guard by his promotion, while on his honeymoon in Greece. “We g