James Purnell is one of the most gifted politicians in this current Parliament.  Yes, I spend most of my time on this blog attacking Labour and its policies but I have a respect for Purnell.  He is an intelligent guy, with a vision and principles.  He will debate on issues and is rarely drawn into the slogan politics that Brown is so fond of.  Purnell’s resignation, after polls closed after the Local & European elections, was done with honesty and yet dignity.  Not a career politician and certainly not bearing the naked ambition of a Caroline Flint that saw her bend beliefs to put career greed ahead of conviction & principles.

Purnell, has kept his counsel, until now, with an interesting interview in Sunday’s Guardian.  Purnell tells the Guardian that: “Over the last six months I had been thinking, ‘has the elastic stretched beyond the point where I feel I am being true to myself?’”    http://tiny.cc/wGhbE  This is a great indication that Purnell was not at ease with the direction of Labour’s strategy and the way policies were being presented/communicated to the electorate.  Certainly Purnell found the ‘10% Tory cuts’ messaging was ‘crude’.

The Guardian interview highlights several interesting insights.  Purnell feels that the government has failed to properly make the positive case for immigration.  This is a growing issue amongst the electorate that the BNP and also UKIP will seek to play on in the next election.  As discussed on this blog, immigration is an issue that as Purnell notes, Labour is not addressing and on the Conservative side, arguably, not being played as a strength.  “The answer is to not end up looking tongue-tied doing some things you don’t actually believe, but working out what the argument is which might be able to win people round to your point of view which is, ‘will we be a more successful country if we open up in terms of free trade, in terms of Labour markets. We’re going to be a more interesting country’.” Purnell also feels that the Labour Government is “allergic” to a debate on the wisdom of faith schools. 

Following the furore of MP’s expenses and the perception of current Politics plunging in the eyes of the electorate, Purnell suggests that Labour should hold a referendum on electoral reform at the next election.  This is an interesting proposition and will be fascinating to see if Cameron picks up this mantle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Purnell dictates that he did not expect fellow cabinet members to follow his lead and resign.  Purnell always asserted he was not part of a coup attempt….and would certainly not admit that to us now post event.  We know that David Miliband certainly thought about resigning but bottled it.  Purnell and Milliband are great mates.  He calls Miliband “one of the most serious politicians of his generation”.  He has obviously seen something that has passed the rest of us by. 

Purnell is known by many as a staunch Blairite….which was a thorn that Brown hated in his Cabinet.  Fascinatingly, he thinks times have changed and now is not the time for nostalgia back to the Blair days.  He said: “All those Blairite, New Labour labels … for me, it’s a bit like Britpop – I feel nostalgic for it, it was absolutely right for its time but that time was 1994. It’s a very different feeling being 12 years into government from the idealism of the start, but we need to recapture that idealism, not by living in the past or by aping New Labour or just sticking to the old tunes. We need to open up New Labour, reinvent it and then eventually move beyond it.”  Sounds like Purnell will be doing all he can to help this policy debate…certainly not something that Brown will applaud. 

In the meantime Purnell is assuming a role at the thinktank Demos in September.  At Demos Purnell joins figures critical of the prime minister’s style and agenda. Blair’s former speech writer Phil Collins is a Demos trustee. Alan Milburn, the former health secretary and critic, is also a board member.  The thinktank was formed in the mid-90s by former Blair adviser Geoff Mulgan and though it has frequently published pamphlets by non-Labour figures, government sources were taken bu surprise when Demos appointed to its board, on it’s 16th birthday anniversary, politicians from the Conservative and Lib Dem parties including the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, and Treasury spokesman for the Lib Dems, Vince Cable.

Purnell does not see a return to front line politics.  He is revelling being away from those red boxes….as is Jacqui Smith.  Purnell is bound to say that as Brown is hardly likely to offer him a new role pre the election….after that election Brown will be deposed and the influence of Purnell will again rise.  Maybe right to the top as he wont be tainted by the Cabinet Collective Policies that Miliband and Johnson will be tainted with.   Maybe the Leadership Campaign is over before it even starts…if ‘Teflon’ Purnell continues as he is now.

We have not heard the last of this man….expect great things from this thinking politician…he may have turned his back on Brown but not on politics!