James Purnell resigns. Britain shrugs
So Work and pensions secretary James Purnell has gone to spend more time with his sideburns. Good. All right-thinking people will have danced a little jig at the news this morning.
I imagine it’ll be just the Tories upset at his departure, him having been a sleeper agent for them – ‘I say old boy, any chance you could be a bit more beastly to the great unwashed?’ ‘I. Obey. Master.’
Now he’s gone rogue they must be hoping Brown can dig up another total and utter bastard to further their agenda. The chilling thought is that Purnell’s flounce moves the terrifying Phil Woolas closer to a big job.
How much damage has this done for Brown? I bet most people outside of political geekery and adrenalin junkie political journalists went ‘James who?’ on hearing the news. Even a breathless John Humphrys on the Today programme on Radio 4 is struggling to make this sound seismic.
After all, Purnell’s a one-dimensional figure even to those of us who have followed his revolting career. Unless they’re on the receiving end of his misanthropic policies I doubt he’s made much impact on people’s awareness other than as a bugger-gripped, Jolie-lipped New Labour drone who looks like he was grown in a laboratory they see burbling away on the news on a slow day.
Posted on June 5th, 2009 at 8:15am under New Labour
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• 16 Comments |
Well yes, except that neither this nor the Blears resignation constitute people leaving politics: they involve people resigning in order to remove a leader who comes from a different faction and presumably to be reinstated by a future leader closer to themselves. So any celebrations are surely of a strictly limited and temporary nature?
That’s true but even if Brown went today, a new leader was installed double quick and he/she brought back the treacherous Blears and Purnell, they’ve got nine/ten months at most to do their worst. The way things are looking, after the next election, Purnell could be in his fifties before he gets another sniff at a big job. Can an ambition such as his bear to sit in opposition that long? I hope not.
On the surface I’m as happy as the next functioning human being, but two clouds are on my horizon.
a. This might not be the last of him.
b. They might somehow manage to bring in someone even worse.
Purnell is THE über-New Labour politician.
It’s because of policies that he represents that a government has become so hated by people who support progressive politics in this country. Let’s not forget that Labour has introduced so many progressive reforms – repealing section 28, human rights act, civil partnerships, minimum wage, etc – but he represents all that’s negative about the New Labour project.
No one will ever give a fuck about him.
Well, the Tories are worse, but on the Labour side – I think you’d be struggling to find anyone worse than Purnell.
Good riddance, hopefully he’ll bugger off to the private sector and never darken our doors again.
Funny you should say that because he’s never actually been a private-sector employee as far as I can tell. If he’d done the sort of work most of us have to do, he might have acquired some sense.
a bugger-gripped, Jolie-lipped New Labour drone who looks like he was grown in a laboratory they see burbling away on the news on a slow day. – nah, more like a smug wannabe supervillain (Sark from Alias, Adam Monroe from Heroes)
Okay, my turn – Purnell is a rightwing, neoliberal, corporate suckup thug who should sod off to the Tory party where he belongs. But in his mind, you see, he’s the hero, the leader in waiting, the Luke Skywalker to Gordo’s Jabba-the-Hut-like soporific presence. I reckon that now there are enough former Blairites who’ve resigned or been grumbling to form a faction calling for the return of the Good Old Days. Just watch – Blairtastic nostalgia cannot be far away.
Blairtastic nostalgia cannot be far away. – it’s already here, if you read John Rentoul or Martin Kettle
Personally, I’m loving it for now. Blears, Smith and Purnell all gone in a matter of days shakes my faith in the utter non-existence of God. If Straw and Woolas go as well, I might even consider voting Labour again in the absence of any practical reason to vote for a party that actually represents my views in any way.
Given that Brits living abroad (like me) outnumber foreigners living in the UK (like my wife may well end up doing in the future) by a substantial margin, the more self-inflicted failure and humiliation heaped on twats like Purnell, the better.
I was unaware of the existence of James Purnell until a couple of years ago, when he made a speech in which he said that the invasion of Iraq would have gone better if there had been time to build a bigger coalition. I presumed that an MP who said daft things like this must be a no-hoper back-bencher, so I was puzzled to find out later that Purnell was a Minister and considered to be destined for higher things.
I cannot say that I will miss him if this is the kind of thing that he says in his speeches. Or do you have to say daft things about Iraq to rise in political circles these days?
And Geoff Hoon’s gone! The man with the most punchable fizzog in British politics has naffed orf.
There is a god!
There is. She’s my cat.
From Hutton to Hain to Purnell….and now Yvette Cooper….(flipping marvellous…) Gee, I can’t wait what’s in store re Work and Pensions. Business as usual and continue shafting the poor with the nasty nasty draconian Welfare Reform Bill, more privatisation, chucking further public money at the private sector (‘welfare to work’ schemes) and pushing through the (in)Flexible New Deal…..
And Workfare
Purnell.
Infernal.
Go to hell….
> The way things are looking, after the next election, Purnell could be in his fifties before he gets another sniff at a big job. Can an ambition such as his bear to sit in opposition that long? I hope not.
But… doesn’t that suggest he’ll defect to the Tories in the hope of being rewarded with a Cabinet seat? I fear Purnell may be back in power with a blue rosette in a year’s time. And I mean *fear* – it’s going to give me nightmares.