Burnham’s Blairite hire sends a message — and Ed Miliband is listening
LONDON — The political calculations behind Andy Burnham’s decision to install James Purnell as chief of staff reach well beyond one man’s office. They hit Ed Miliband directly. Miliband wants to be Chancellor.
Allies played down the idea that Purnell’s appointment is a setback for that ambition. But the denial itself tells a story.
If it meant nothing, nobody would be denying it. Purnell is not a neutral operator. He quit Gordon Brown’s government in 2009 because Brown would not cut welfare.
He spent the next decade-plus at the BBC. He has not been in active politics since.
One Labour aide warned he could struggle to “get back into rhythm.” Yet Burnham brought him in anyway. That is a choice. Burnham’s operation has branded itself as “Manchesterism” — something new, something apart from the stale Blair-Corbyn wars.
Purnell is a Blairite. He was a protege of Peter Mandelson. The injection of that influence into a team that claims to be fresh raises real questions about what “Manchesterism” actually means in practice.
The personal history is real. Burnham and Purnell are old contemporaries from the New Labour era.
They shared a flat. They played together in the ‘Demon Eyes’ football team. That is not nothing.
But political appointments are never just about friendship. The signal is what matters.
And the signal is this: Burnham, positioning for a potential premiership as soon as July 17, is building a team that draws from the moderate wing of the party. Purnell is on that wing. He always has been.
Darren Jones had been talked up as a possible challenger to avoid a “coronation.” Allies of Jones — a Starmer loyalist — were floating that prospect. But it collapsed this morning. Jones ruled out forcing a contest after a conversation with Burnham that he said left him “reassured.” That conversation happened after the Purnell news broke.
Cause and effect are hard to separate. Former defence minister Al Carns has also been mentioned in connection with the leadership maneuvering.
The shape of Burnham’s team is emerging as his last rivals wilt in the heat. What to watch next. Ed Miliband’s camp will be watching every appointment Burnham makes.
If the team fills with more Blairite figures, the Chancellor question gets harder for Miliband. He cannot afford to be sidelined before a government even forms.
Purnell himself faces a test. A decade out of politics is a long time. The rhythms of Westminster shift.
The Labour Party he left in 2009 is not the same party he returns to now. The aide who questioned whether he could get back into rhythm was not being cruel. They were being honest.
Burnham is betting that Purnell’s experience outweighs the rust. He is also betting that voters and party members will accept a Blairite influence in a project sold as post-Blair.
That bet is not yet settled. The mechanics of the hire are straightforward. The consequences are not.
