political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Purnell Resigns!
James Purnell has resigned. I'm on 5 Live for the next hour. Tune in!
Hide all the clocks, and hide that mobile phone, The Cabinet’s told Brown he’s on his own. Prepare the padded cell; sedate the bum And let the headshrinks in their white coats come.
Flint has suckered up to Brown like an anal leech. There has to be a vote of confidence now. Purnell is right. There is no way Brown can win. He is laying out his credentials to be the leader in the future. But not immediately because he knows labour has lost no matterwho leads.
Good to see BBC News devoting a whole 9 minutes to the elections!!? And with a cabinet minister resigning and a backbecncher asking for a secret ballot for the leadership!
Crikey, that almost sounded dramatic... if only Labour hadn't become so pathetic. It makes the Tory splits of yesteryear look like a game of conkers. A game of bonkers, in Labour's case.
You showed Frank Dobson for the broken old political hack that he is. Is he drunk? He sounded like he might have been. Especially with his rather odd outburst.
This is serious stuff as Purnell will be very difficult for the no.10 operation to discredit. He also appears to have timed his move to capture the front pages of the Times and the Sun at least. There are also a number of other Labour MPs doing the news studios demanding a secret ballot on Brown's leadership, regardless of their party rules. Very bad for Gordon Brown.
What a shock - Nick Robinson on BBC news saying this has the "smack of Blairite firmness" - has TB risen from the dead!!!
As a Tory don't want a new Labour leader, unless that brings on a General Election - if so, the sooner we can work to get out this disasterous government and get David into Number 10 the better!
Hey Broon!.......go be Scotch Labour leader!, thats where you belong! in your OWN REGION!, whats one more bitter and twisted anti-English communist in Schhhhhortland!?
Milliband tommorow , the narrative is developing clearly and I bet Flint wishes she had not been so craven. This is judgement by his own Party that the polices of the Brown dominated Labour Party have been wrong for ten years.
I can only agree and I think we need a little chat expressed in votes
Cabinet Ministers are being rolled out to give a pro Brown mantra that sounds like the sort of praise heaped on Laurence Harvey by the brainwashed GI's in the Manchurian Candidate.
Still the good news is that Brown looks like surviving ... for a bit.
James Purnell seems to me to be an odious little shit.
I'm told he is paid £142,000 + expenses. Expenses such as £250 on fridge magnets! He claimed for a digital camera, to more easily super impose his image on other photos? Apparently "He introduced a Bill to stop the "benefit scroungers". Is there some irony in this? Right Honourable this man is not."
Sadly he's in a safe seat - the sort you could present a rat wearing a red rosette and it would get elected. Obviously it did.
My god, these people are delusional. This could be the best possible result for the Conservatives, utter chaos in Labour and most of the senior figures making themselves look truly stupid and making it obvious they are centred around the needs of Labour rather than the country.
They are all saying that Gordon Brown is the best person to lead the country. They also seem to think his staying is good for Labour. How can anyone think the former, let alone the latter?
Peter Kilfoyle on the BBC is coming across as most deluded.
I have to wonder if Purnell actually voluntarily wrote the article in the Guardian last week for which he was ripped a new one in the Comments? It doesn't make much sense if he was on the point of resigning.
Maybe if they had a candidate with any talent they could even arrange a transfer of power. But I somehow think they may splutter on to the bitter end [June 2010]
We the people may need to march on london to get rid of this clown for the good off the uk as a hole and as soon as it start to kick off im there liebour even trying to deface the ballot papers today to stop us voting the you would like us to
I have to wonder if Purnell actually voluntarily wrote the article in the Guardian last week for which he was ripped a new one in the Comments? It doesn't make much sense if he was on the point of resigning. _______ Silly! It was a term paper and he got a D.
Hide all the clocks, and hide that mobile phone,
ReplyDeleteThe Cabinet’s told Brown he’s on his own.
Prepare the padded cell; sedate the bum
And let the headshrinks in their white coats come.
Will he now "cross the floor" but who would have him?
ReplyDeleteAnd so, it begins.
ReplyDeleteNew Labour is finished.
The resignation letter is pretty damning. Stabbed in the front, I'd say. Is Purnell the Geoffrey Howe de nos jours?
ReplyDeleteWish I'd put money on my theory of a July General Election!
ReplyDeleteHe has photoshopped himself out of the Cabinet.
ReplyDeleteStraight from the Harold Wilson playbook.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahahahahahah.This just gets better cheery bye Gordon you utter,utter tosspot
ReplyDeleteDoesn't want to be leader.
ReplyDeleteWell not quite yet anyway.
W.W.
Alan Sugar? Has somebody been spiking my tea with hallucinogens?
ReplyDeleteFlint has suckered up to Brown like an anal leech.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be a vote of confidence now.
Purnell is right. There is no way Brown can win. He is laying out his credentials to be the leader in the future. But not immediately because he knows labour has lost no matterwho leads.
Flint on Sky News, what an incredibly abrasive woman!
ReplyDeleteGood to see BBC News devoting a whole 9 minutes to the elections!!? And with a cabinet minister resigning and a backbecncher asking for a secret ballot for the leadership!
ReplyDeleteWhat planet are these guys on?
Brown is now seriously ****ed
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely totally brilliant Iain.....This must surely be the beginning of the end of Broon...
ReplyDeleteSo it begins, Iain.
ReplyDeleteLabour is now at war with itself.
Crikey, that almost sounded dramatic... if only Labour hadn't become so pathetic. It makes the Tory splits of yesteryear look like a game of conkers. A game of bonkers, in Labour's case.
I don't think the Labour Regime get it!....it doesn't matter WHO is Leader of the Labour Regime...
ReplyDeleteLabour OUT REGARDLESS!!!!!
Well done Purnell. Nice to know there was still somebody left in the cabinet with a backbone. Now for the rest to crawl out of the woodwork.
ReplyDeleteHooray!
ReplyDeleteI quite fancy him too!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/5446031/No-amount-of-reshuffling-will-solve-the-mess-Labour-has-made.html
ReplyDeleteJeff Randall kicks the Balls
Ask Richard if he'll allow you to stay on until the "special half Hour"
Sorry Iain would love to but Question Tinme is on.Get back to your blog this instant
ReplyDeleteBrown is now surely toast!
ReplyDeleteGuess that answers the lyric "And the question remained, just who would stab him in the back?" in my little ditty Gordy (The Worstest Leader in the West)
ReplyDeletePurnell resigns. How long can Brown last?
ReplyDeleteYou showed Frank Dobson for the broken old political hack that he is. Is he drunk? He sounded like he might have been. Especially with his rather odd outburst.
Richard Bacon IS Gary Bellamy
ReplyDeleteDobson! What a fool. They don't give us any intelligence do they?
ReplyDeletePurnell .. no one has ever heard of him.. the arse.
Excellant (rubs hands). Less than a week after I upbraided him on CiF and he's gone.
ReplyDeleteRight, who's next.
Gordon, I mean YOU. This country does not need YOU.
Well done Iain - you've beaten Guido to it. Too much margeaux at lunchtime perhaps?
ReplyDeleteEl Gordo is surely history.
ReplyDeleteThis is serious stuff as Purnell will be very difficult for the no.10 operation to discredit. He also appears to have timed his move to capture the front pages of the Times and the Sun at least. There are also a number of other Labour MPs doing the news studios demanding a secret ballot on Brown's leadership, regardless of their party rules. Very bad for Gordon Brown.
ReplyDeleteA brilliant programme.
ReplyDeleteFrank Dobson on Brown's reaction to the Purnell resignation: "He'll be pissed off"
His resignation letter is here: http://timesonline.typepad.com/politics/2009/06/purnell-quits-the-times.html
ReplyDelete"I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely."
What a shock - Nick Robinson on BBC news saying this has the "smack of Blairite firmness" - has TB risen from the dead!!!
ReplyDeleteAs a Tory don't want a new Labour leader, unless that brings on a General Election - if so, the sooner we can work to get out this disasterous government and get David into Number 10 the better!
Don't have an account
- Simon Wilkinson (Blackburn Conservatives)
And just looking back over my own blog I did call it this morning. Not that I'm blowing my own trumpet.
ReplyDeleteTime to go PM
And Spectator Coffeehouse has a rujmour David Milliband will resign on Friday!
ReplyDeleteGame over!
Rumour: David Miliband to go tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteFrom Coffee House
Not many to go now!
ReplyDeleteAnd, as I sense it, George Parker at the FT has got a hot line to A. Darling, esq. See his post via PoliticsHome.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a hot time in the old town tonight.
If your 'phone doesn't ring, you're out of the loop.
By the way, all those previous comment are from amateurs.
Coffee House are reporting the rumour that David Milliband will be resigning tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNokias will be flying tonight.
Pity it didn't happen in time for Question Time's recording...
ReplyDeleteAlso pity it's Purnell to wield the knife. He's a loathesome creature.
Get Purnell across to the Conservatives. He's much too clever for Labour.
ReplyDeleteBeckett and Straw to "see" Brown 2moro
ReplyDeleteSing the praises from the rooftops --- Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is still loyal.
ReplyDeletePraise be if Brown now gives her a promotion. Preferably a job where she is never off the telly.
Hey Broon!.......go be Scotch Labour leader!, thats where you belong! in your OWN REGION!, whats one more bitter and twisted anti-English communist in Schhhhhortland!?
ReplyDeleteEngland doesnt want YOU!,
Meanwhile in the Bunker....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.milfotos.org/images/4595db32ba6a8e1a19dd1b2cde464062.jpg
So Purnell has some bollocks then. I didn't think he had it in him.
ReplyDeleteWell done sir.
What a slimy coward Purnell is. He didn't tell his boss in Downing Street what he thought face to face, he announced his resignation to the press.
ReplyDeleteStill Brown must surely now be toast, as is nu liebour. I can never remember such a shambles in the 30 odd years I've been following politics.
I think it is checkmate.
ReplyDeleteLivingstone is on Newsnight trying to convince us Labour's pasting is the result of these ministers betraying Brown to distract us from expenses.
ReplyDeleteNonesense.
The figures were looking grim before the expenses row.
Turnoutn 34% in my part of North Wales.
ReplyDeleteI propose a toast: to the death of New Labour!
ReplyDeleteSuzanne 10:54
ReplyDeleteLike master like servant?
Spedo says Good Riddance to Purnell -- it is a necessary catharsis after Blairism. Labour are on the march and getting stronger!
ReplyDeleteWe'll keep the red flag flying here de dum de dum de dee
Remind me please. Who TF is James Purnell? I've vaguely heard his name.. but who exactly is or was he exactly?
ReplyDeleteLovely smack in the mouth from Barry Sheerman on Newsnight to Livingstone, along the lines of 'you're not one to talk about sleaze!'.
ReplyDeleteIt's an electrifying night to be at work tonight. But you look a bit of a scruff on the BBC news channel, Iain. Where's your obligatory loud tie?
ReplyDeletePaul Clark MP has turned off comment moderation on this blog. Why not pay him a visit and leave a message
ReplyDeletehttp://www.labourisworking.com/?p=1000
Labour List reporting Burnham to go tomorrow, followed by Milliband. Should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteRejoice.
ReplyDeleteGet back to " The Manse" you McMentalist.
Iain, what's your impression of Richard Bacon. It's a while since I've listened to him, and I was impressed.
ReplyDeletewasn't dobson hilarious?
ReplyDeleteNick (in the naughty corner)
Milliband tommorow , the narrative is developing clearly and I bet Flint wishes she had not been so craven.
ReplyDeleteThis is judgement by his own Party that the polices of the Brown dominated Labour Party have been wrong for ten years.
I can only agree and I think we need a little chat expressed in votes
Someone compared this government to the Titanic, but with all these ministers going away its far more like the Marie Celeste.
ReplyDeleteAt this rate there will be no one - apart from Brown and a few cardboard cut-outs - left to govern.
Time for a change I think.
Cabinet Ministers are being rolled out to give a pro Brown mantra that sounds like the sort of praise heaped on Laurence Harvey by the brainwashed GI's in the Manchurian Candidate.
ReplyDeleteStill the good news is that Brown looks like surviving ... for a bit.
James Purnell seems to me to be an odious little shit.
ReplyDeleteI'm told he is paid £142,000 + expenses. Expenses such as £250 on fridge magnets! He claimed for a digital camera, to more easily super impose his image on other photos? Apparently "He introduced a Bill to stop the "benefit scroungers". Is there some irony in this? Right Honourable this man is not."
Sadly he's in a safe seat - the sort you could present a rat wearing a red rosette and it would get elected. Obviously it did.
My god, these people are delusional. This could be the best possible result for the Conservatives, utter chaos in Labour and most of the senior figures making themselves look truly stupid and making it obvious they are centred around the needs of Labour rather than the country.
ReplyDeleteThey are all saying that Gordon Brown is the best person to lead the country. They also seem to think his staying is good for Labour. How can anyone think the former, let alone the latter?
Peter Kilfoyle on the BBC is coming across as most deluded.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3670948/rumour-david-miliband-to-resign-friday.thtml
ReplyDeleteCome on Dale get back to work is Milliband off ?
So now we don't have to talk about their thieving expenses. More diversion and spin from our crooked politicians.
ReplyDeleteMillibqand now saying he is not resigning
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder if Purnell actually voluntarily wrote the article in the Guardian last week for which he was ripped a new one in the Comments? It doesn't make much sense if he was on the point of resigning.
ReplyDeleteVery informative programme. Not much on election issues, though! Can't seem to find any decent coverage. Blimey - there's a gap in the market!
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Purnell stunt may have backfired.
ReplyDeleteThe rats are actually getting back on the ship!
Maybe if they had a candidate with any talent they could even arrange a transfer of power. But I somehow think they may splutter on to the bitter end [June 2010]
We the people may need to march on london to get rid of this clown for the good off the uk as a hole
ReplyDeleteand as soon as it start to kick off im there liebour even trying to deface the ballot papers today to stop us voting the you would like us to
I have to wonder if Purnell actually voluntarily wrote the article in the Guardian last week for which he was ripped a new one in the Comments? It doesn't make much sense if he was on the point of resigning.
ReplyDelete_______
Silly! It was a term paper and he got a D.