Last night political hacks reported that James Purnell, the Blairite minister who famously lone wolf-resigned as DWP in 2009, will be Burnham’s chief of staff in Downing Street. Purnell himself told his lobbying company employees that the assertion is “basically correct” today…
Purnell is another Mandelson friend from the Blair/Brown years. Peter Mandelson wrote of Blair:
“Tony was also immensely fortunate in a pair of younger, rawer aides. The first was James Purnell, a bright Balliol PPE student who did research for him on a volunteer basis until leaving for the IPPR after the 1992 election. The second, a friend of James’s whom he persuaded Tony to hire as his replacement, was Tim Allan.”
Mandelson also said he became a “long-standing friend.” When his intention to resign became known, Mandelson recounted in his book The Third Man, published in 2010:
“I had spoken to James the night before, and he had given no indication of what he was thinking. I had asked him whether he wanted the schools department, because I knew Gordon was thinking about Ed Balls moving to the Treasury. However concerned I was about the Treasury move, if it was going to happen, I wanted James a long-standing friend for whom I had the highest of hopes – to benefit from it if he wished. He said firmly that he had decided to stay at Work and Pensions.
Now I found myself at odds with him for the first time. “That’s ridiculous. You’re not leaving,’ I said. ‘You are not going to do this.’
‘I am,’ he replied quietly.
‘You’re not.’
‘Peter, I am. I can’t go on television any more to defend Gordon’s premiership.'”
Purnell himself said Mandelson was “a friend of mine as well as a political colleague.” Double-sourced…
Purnell has been heading up lobbying firm Flint Global since 2024 after stints at the BBC and left-wing think tank IPPR. A Tory source said: “Yet another protege of the best pal of the world’s most famous paedo is set to be Burnham’s chief of staff. Because that went so well last time. Will the disgraced dark lord bring down another PM? And will any messages between Purnell and Petey be made available to the security vetting team?” Is being friends with Mandelson a pre-requisite for the No10 Chief of Staff job?
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”