Purnell speech makes discreet waves

John Rentoul, on the Independent's Open House blog, is positively gushing in his praise for James Purnell's speech for Progress last week:

'No wonder several Labour people in Westminster in the past few days have said to me: "Have you read Purnell's speech?"'

... says Rentoul. All part of Purnell's 'discreet rise', apparently. Though the number of admiring media profiles the pensions secretary is receiving is definitely on the increase. See this one by Fraser Nelson in the Spectator.

Still, perhaps the political editor of the Tory organ isn't the best person to be listening to at times like this ...

Comments

[newcentury]

Great turns of phrases in James Purnell's but woefully flawed. The "broken society" may not be a slogan you or I would choose but it does resonate with the British public because it is based on fundamental truths with very visible social consequences: teenage pregnancy (girls looking for the love to/from their baby that they never had from parents, boys finding role models and support in gangs that they never got from their absent father. The neglect of children, whether in dual income middle income families or state income non-working poor, is a critical issue facing the UK.