James Purnell quits Cabinet

June 04, 2009

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STALYBRIDGE and Hyde MP James Purnell has sensationally quit the Cabinet and told Gordon Brown to step down as Prime Minister.

Mr Purnell's move, which has sent shockwaves through Westminster and beyond, was announced shortly after polls closed for the European elections on Thursday evening.

In a letter to Mr Brown, he said: "I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely. That would be disastrous for our country. I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from government."

Mr Purnell, elected as MP in 2001 and made work and pensions secretary in 2007, is the third senior Labour minister to announce in the past few days that they are standing down from cabinet.

It has cranked up the pressure on the Prime Minister, with rumours of further resignations and possible leadership challenges gaining momentum.

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Click on the link on the right to see Mr Purnell's letter of resignation to Gordon Brown (PDF file, requires Adobe Reader to open it)

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James Purnell's resignation letter to Gordon Brown (PDF file) (29.31KB)

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Dennis the Menace, Hyde (05/06/2009 at 01:02)

Now that he has resigned his Cabinet post ....... LETS SEE HIM RESIGN AS OUR LOCAL MP AND TROT OFF BACK TO ISLINGTON, FROM WHENCE HE CAME !!!! .... THIS MAN IS NOT INTERESTED IN SERVING THIS COMMUNITY, ONLY IN FUTHERING HIS OWN CAREER !!! .... LET US THE RESIDENTS OF STALYBRIDGE AND HYDE HAVE SAY IN WHO WE GET AS OUR MP, NOT SOMEONE WHO IS FOISTED UPON US !!!! LETS HAVE SOMEONE LOCAL WHO REALLY CARES !!!! ...............

King Julian III (05/06/2009 at 08:06)

What a slimy backstabbing Judas.
Purnell the golden boy has been shielded by this government, i.e. Brown.
His expenses, security blunders misleading press releases etc etc.
I hope his career as an MP comes to a grinding halt, whoever gets the Labour leader position looks round and carefully considers who he would like watching his back.
I will lobby my/his local labour office to have this sleazy weasel deselected.
How can any of these people lay the blame for their current situation at the PM's feet, they have been outed as greedy self serving liars and have only themselves (Purnell, Blears et al), to blame.
More disturbingly, who can you trust,
"New boss same as the last boss"

hjk (05/06/2009 at 09:36)

Dennis the Menace - My thoughts entirely.

Lady phoenix (05/06/2009 at 11:12)

He appears to be a horrible little man who was given the seat of Stalybridge and Hyde under the cronyism of the Labour Party umbrella. He has milked the system and has disgraced Tameside, he should now do the decent thing and resign as MP. Failing that, if he has the audacity to stand again, let's hope the electorate of Stalybridge and Hyde treat him with the contempt he deserves and ensure he never represents this borough again.

£400 on food?????? (05/06/2009 at 15:31)

There's no-one out there on the limb with you James.
That label on the dagger in your back say "twist to remove"
What a mistake to make!

Dennis the Menace, Hyde (06/06/2009 at 01:08)

So ........ James is supposed to represent the people of Stalybridge and Hyde is he ???????? ............. well before he made the decision to stab the Prime Minister in the back ..... did he ask what his constituents thought ?????? NO .... HE is Supposed to represent US !!!! yet another example of WHY WE SHOULD DISPOSE OF HIM !!!!!!

readersdigest (07/06/2009 at 08:21)

Another one of Blairs cronies who is deserting the ship, why doesn't he do the honourable thing and resign completely from Parliament. He certainly as done nothing for Stalybridge and Hyde he can be classed as one of Thatchers children.

Readersdigest

Ashton Tommy, Tameside (07/06/2009 at 15:44)

I have done a little reseach on our MP for Stalybridge and Hyde. I just wonder why (considering he appears to have little or no affinity to Tameside let alone Stalybridge and Hyde) is he representing us in the first place. See profile below.Born within the City of London, he received most of his education in France before returning to study for his A Levels at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford and going on to gain a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford.

While still a student he worked in the summer holidays as a researcher to Tony Blair from 1989 to 1992. After graduating he worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research before moving to the BBC to become Head of Corporate Planning.

Julian Cadbury, Congleton (08/06/2009 at 20:05)

The reason Mr Purnell represents Stalybridge and Hyde comes down to one thing - patronage. Given his undoubted abilities as a former speechwriter to Tony Blai, the former P.M. wanted him in Parliament. In order to facilitate this the P.M. offered the previous M.P. a peerage and made him a Privy Councillor in order to encourage him to vacate the seat. He also gave the Leader of the local Council a Gong in order to get him to use his influence to ensure Mr Parnell's adoption by the local party.

Julian Cadbury.

alison raglan (09/06/2009 at 02:34)

cant understand why purnell would not inform you, the local labour party, or consult with you? There is one possible explanation... is he about to defect to the tories?

Mellor Road Mincer, Ashton (09/06/2009 at 12:40)

I can tell you now, Tameside Tories would reject James Purnell. He would have to find another seat, but he isn't welcome here.

Ashton Tommy, Tameside (09/06/2009 at 19:33)

With reference to Julian Cadbury's contribution. So the people of Tameside did not select their local MP it was done for us by Tony Blair - well thank you Tone. I feel a parliamentary reform issue has come to light. I wonder if the people of Tameside would have liked to have a say in this matter. Or maybe it was better to keep us in the dark. We don't need to know about these trivialities such as selection of our MP or say...... MPs expenses for that matter do we? mmmmmm

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