James Purnell has become the latest minister to have resigned from Gordon Brown’s cabinet, hot on the heels of Hazel Blears (scandal & ambition) and Home Secretary/Wilders foe Jacqui Smith, who has also announced her resignation (scandal & uselessness).
In his “Dear Gordon” letter, Purnell explains how much he and Brown both love the Labour party, but that he (Purnell) now believes “your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely. ” Is this a dagger and all that.
To misquote Lady Bracknell, “To lose one minister, Mr. Brown, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness, and as for three . . . ”
To say that Brown is in trouble would be an understatement. But Purnell is right: If Brown will not call an election now, the Tories must hope that the prime minister can hang on, while they noisily pretend to want the opposite.