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Burnham economic adviser O'Neill rules out government job
The economist Lord Jim O'Neill, who has been advising the prime minister, has said he will not be taking a job in Andy Burnham's government.
Lord O'Neill, a crossbench peer, was once a treasury minister under the Conservatives.
As first reported by, external the Financial Times, he said he did not want the constraints involved in taking on a formal role.
The former chief economist at Goldman Sachs had been tipped to become Burnham's chief economic adviser.
He said he was enjoying what he was currently doing too much and did not want to have to give up control of his business interests to comply with official rules.
"It's not because of any policy disagreements. I'm a massive fan of the focus on devolution and I hope Andy and his team will be bold on this and everything else."
"I'll continue to, hopefully, maintain an informal relationship with the PM and his team," he added.
He said he did not want "the constraints of a blind trust and all the constraints that would be necessary".
In placing shares in blind trusts, ministers have no knowledge of how their investment is being handled, to avoid any potential conflict of interest.
From 2015-2016, Lord O'Neill was commercial secretary to the Treasury under the then-Chancellor, George Osborne.