Received wisdom dictates that any prominent Labour minister spotted on a television screen at present is on manoeuvres. James Purnell has been labelled for a while now as one such minister, and his welfare reform announcements in the nation’s breakfast studios this morning have only enforced those perceptions.
If you accept the premise that Purnell is indeed positioning himself for a tilt at the top table, the content of his announcements raises an interesting question:
These proposals - lifted almost verbatim from the Tories own welfare policy outlined earlier in the year - place Purnell significantly to the right of many Labour back-benchers and grass-roots supporters, not to mention the Unions. Given the likelihood that the Party will shift still further to the left in the event of a heavy loss at the next election, does this suggest that Purnell is expecting a leadership contest a little earlier than the autumn of 2010?
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