A good politician who sees the writing on the wall

Stunning news just out.

James Purnell who must have come very close to unseating Gordon Brown when he resigned from the Cabinet is standing down at the next election.

He will tell his Stalybridge and Hyde local party that with regret he is standing down to seek new challenges.

Considered a Blairite,this will be greeted as another sad conclusion to Gordon Brown's reign in power from a good politician who sees the writing on the wall.

It's happened but it is Purnell

So it has happened.

A cabinet minister has resigned tonight and has called on Gordon Brown to stand now.

The surprise is that the name is James Purnell.By all reports he has been buiding up to this for some time,was persuaded by cabinet colleagues that it wasn't a good idea but decided today that enough was enough.

What will happen now?

Well Brown has probably now been mortaly wounded.It is difficult to see how he can come back from this but it may well open the door for Alan Johnston to make a move now the contest is on the cards.

This is part of the letter that he sent

I owe it to our Party to say what I believe no matter how hard that may. I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely
That would be disastrous for our country. This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, better public services, an open democracy.
It calls for a government that measures itself by how it treats the poorest in society. Those are our values, not David Cameron's.
We therefore owe it to our country to give it a real choice. We need to show that we are prepared to fight to be a credible government and have the courage to offer an alternative future.

Meanwhile as this story moves along,there is a rumour that David Miliband may also go tomorrow,that's according to an unconfirmed report from the Spectator.

Oxford Reds

With many columnists writing over the weekend that last week's events marked the end of Labour,it wasn't long before the speculation starts over their new leader.

Mike Smithson ,as ever, is quick off the mark postulating that to shadow a new Oxford PM,the part will need one of their own.

Step forward three candidates,Ed Miliband,Ed Balls and James Purnell who all have attended that great institution.

As Mike points out

All three read the same degree, Politics, Philosophy and Economics, that David Cameron (Brasenose) did at Oxford and all three are said to be working hard building alliances within the party so that they can launch their bids when the vacancy occurs.

And that all Labour PM's who have commanded a large majority ie Blair and Atlee also attended.

A u turn on job centres

Not surprisingly James Purnell this afternoon announced that the governemnt is abandoning its policy of closing job centres.

It would have hardly have fitted confortably with the Chancellor's comments about helping the people through these difficult times.

In fact there will now be 6000 additional frontline staff in the centres by the middle of next year

Purnell loses another little helper

For anyone who has tried to drive from Manchester to the Derbyshire Dales,it is unlikely that they will have a great deal of sympathy for the people behind the Stop the Mottram ByPass.


For those that don't know imagine a three lane motorway coming to an abrupt end at an island which is then filtered into a narrow road going through a pretty village and you will have an idea what I mean.

That is beside the by for they have some news that the cabinet's works and pensions secretary James Purnell,who hails from these parts has lost another loyal follower.
They report that

word has today reached us that the Work and Pension Secretary of State & local MP, James Purnell, has sacked his office boy (sorry, Parliamentary Political Operative) Councillor Sean Parker-Perry.
The official line is that Sean has quit due to 'family commitments' - he clearly thinks he's got as much on his plate as Ruth Kelly. We suspect it's a resignation in the same mould as that of another former Purnell employee who fucked up, Mike Doherty.

Check out the blog for further gossip on this

First shots in a succession war for Purnell

Is today's Welfare Green paper the first shots in a leadership succession?.

James Purnell's media appearances in launching the document have been an exercise in slick poliical management and he has come across as a smooth and professional operator who is quick to defend the proposals.

If he becomes the minister that finally after many years of talk gets these on the statute book then it will increase his reputation many times over.

Although agreeing on the leadership posturingDavid Hughes certainly isn't so sure that they will reach the statute book.Writing on the Telegraph blog site he says that

it has to be seen in the context of the coming Labour leadership contest. This is Purnell setting out his moderniser's stall, safe in the knowledge he is not going to have to implement what would be reasonably radical changes to welfare policy which most Labour MPs simply will not wear

.

Is Purnell the man to take Labour forward?

This week's Spectator magazine looks to the future for the Labour party with Fraser Nelson suggesting that James Purnell and not the fancied David Miliband could be its next leader.

Why not Miliband then?

....the Foreign Secretary’s fan base is starting to fracture, not least because he has conspicuously failed to woo the Parliamentary Labour Party. The accomplished egghead still frowns with impatience in interviews and select committee meetings when he thinks he is dealing with fools

Miliband belongs to a group of Blairite ministers,including Liam Byrne, Jim Murphy, and James Purnell.Nelson argues that the group's priority has changed to one of stop Ed Balls at all costs.

And this has put Purnell in the limelight

To tip the 38-year-old Work and Pensions Secretary for the leadership now may seem as absurd as tipping the then 38-year-old Mr Cameron seemed three years ago. Yet since he succeeded Peter Hain at the Department of Work and Pensions, his name has started to be factored routinely into the what-if scenarios being played around Westminster. Many laugh this off instantly, regarding him as a smooth lightweight who prefers tailoring to politicking. But those who do know him well regard the prospect as eminently plausible — and believe that he may leap over Mr Miliband’s head, just as Mr Blair overtook Mr Brown in the early Nineties.

Nelson argues that he has two charactoristics,firstly that he has an unusual grasp of detail(unlike his hero) and secondly that unlike many members of the cabinet he is"not a political obsessive.

There is a strong feeling that the party needs to get away fron the career politician view and Purnell may well be that person

Labour home are not agreeing.Asking how people rate the cabinet members,Miliband comes top with Purnell down in 8th place

A bad end to a bad week

Was confirmed in the Sun this morning as Labour gets the worst ever poll figures since well when?

The Sun’s findings put the Tories on a massive 49 per cent with Labour trailing on 23per cent — a gap of 26 points.

Not suprising really but it shows that Gordon's attempts to feel our pain have not worked so far anyway.

(And why on earth did he not attend Gwyneth Dunwoody's funeral?)

Watching Question Time last night and I only saw the last 15 mins.It was rather painful watching James Purnell squirming as he tried to justify the about turn on cannabis.Attacked from all directions,the comment was made that it was headline government and was pandering to Paul Dacre

So what do you get for 20 grand?

£20,OOO appears a popular figure today as a sum that a number of politicans have been accused of as squandering.

Read this morning's Indy and it is David Davis,Tory Shadow Home Secretary who

faces the prospect of an Electoral Commission inquiry over a substantial donation that passed through several hands and was declared by four people, including Derek Conway

.

In the Sunday Times,it is the rising star of the cabinet James Purnell who

bought a flat in London before becoming an MP and his Manchester constituency home, which he acquired several years later. He was able to claim thousands of pounds of MPs’ expenses on the London home and is accused of exploiting a tax loophole to avoid a huge bill on its sale.

Whilst turn to the pages of the Telegraph and it is senior Tory Michael Ancram who

claimed more than £20,000 in housing expenses last year, explaining that he had to paint his property and remove moss from the garden.

Game set and match?