James Purnell has stepped down from the cabinet and told Prime Minister Gordon Brown to "stand aside"

In a letter to the Sun and the Times, the work and pensions secretary said he was not seeking the leadership but wanted to trigger a debate.

Mr Purnell is the third cabinet member to announce in the past few days they are standing down from cabinet.

Mr Brown is set to reshuffle his cabinet as he fights to survive as prime minister.

In his letter, Mr Purnell said he owed it to the Labour Party to "say what I believe no matter how hard that may be".

He said Mr Brown's continued leadership of the party made a Conservative victory at the next general election "more not less likely".

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said it was the first direct challenge to Mr Brown from a cabinet minister.

Mr Purnell's resignation was a message to the rest of the Labour Party to make up their minds about Mr Brown's leadership, he said.

The news comes as the polls close across the UK for the European elections, the last big test of opinion ahead of a general election.

In England people have also been voting in 27 county and seven unitary council elections - and for three mayors.

Speaking as the polls closed, senior Labour backbencher Barry Sheerman told the BBC there should be a ballot of Labour MPs to see if Gordon Brown still has the confidence of the party.

He told the BBC: "Many of my colleagues, all over the Palace of Westminster, are e-mailing each other and phoning each other.

"This goes far beyond just a few people, this is a large number of us who are really unhappy about the present situation.

"We would love to have a secret ballot so that we can express our views in the confidence that there would be no recriminations whatever way the vote went."

But asked about the idea of a ballot on BBC One's Question Time, Labour's leader in the Lords Baroness Royall, said: "If that's Barry Sheerman's view I don't happen to agree with it. I believe at this moment in transparency and freedom of information."

She defended Mr Brown's style of leadership and said he could relate to people: "We haven't got a media star, we have got a person who works damned hard and is taking us through the economic crisis."

Remember when Labour swept to power in '97?  Basically their first term comprised of crowing loudly of '18 years of Tory misrule' and precious little else...

Fast forward one year and I wonder if the Tories will be doing the self-same thing? (Albeit 13 years as opposed to 18...)

Not sure what the outcome will be (I'll have to read my papers more carefully!) if Gordy got the push next week, just say...

Will we have a second 'unelected' PM? Or would an election have to be called?

The only 'resigning' PM that I remember was Harold Wilson...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44379000/jpg/_44379104_purnell2_bbc203b.jpg
Mr Purnell (far right)

It was James Purnell a few back he found himself embroiled in a fakery row of his own after it emerged his image had been electronically inserted into a group photograph of dignitaries celebrating a hospital project. His department admitted later it had received an e-mail telling it about the superimposed image before it was sent to the press but that the message had not been shown to the secretary of state. Mr Purnell denied all knowledge.

The Cabinet: Who's Who (current leavers strikethrough)

Prime Minister - Gordon Brown
Chancellor - Alistair Darling
Justice - Jack Straw
Chief Whip - Nick Brown
Commons - Harriet Harman
Culture - Andy Burnham
Defence- John Hutton
Development - Douglas Alexander
Energy and climate - Ed Miliband
Education: Children - Ed Balls
Higher Education - John Denham
Environment - Hilary Benn  Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
Health - Alan Johnson
Home Secretary - Jacqui Smith
Business - Peter Mandelson
Lords Leader - Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Community - Hazel Blears
N Ireland - Shaun Woodward
Transport - Geoff Hoon
Treasury - Yvette Cooper
Work & Pensions - James Purnell
Wales - Paul Murphy
Scotland - Jim Murphy

I guess if the Justice minister were to resign, that might be the Straw that breaks the camel's back..

The Cabinet: Who's Who (current leavers strikethrough)

Prime Minister - Gordon Brown
Chancellor - Alistair Darling
Justice - Jack Straw
Chief Whip - Nick Brown
Commons - Harriet Harman
Culture - Andy Burnham
Defence- John Hutton
Development - Douglas Alexander
Energy and climate - Ed Miliband
Education: Children - Ed Balls
Higher Education - John Denham
Environment - Hilary Benn  Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
Health - Alan Johnson
Home Secretary - Jacqui Smith
Business - Peter Mandelson
Lords Leader - Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Community - Hazel Blears
N Ireland - Shaun Woodward
Transport - Geoff Hoon
Treasury - Yvette Cooper
Work & Pensions - James Purnell
Wales - Paul Murphy
Scotland - Jim Murphy
John Hutton has now quit after a Cabinet Reshuffle

Now reads as:

CABINET RESHUFFLE
Alistair Darling - stays as chancellor
Alan Johnson - new home secretary
David Miliband - stays as foreign secretary
Jack Straw - stays as justice secretary
Lord Mandelson - stays as business secretary
Yvette Cooper - new work and pensions secretary
Ed Balls - stays as schools secretary
John Denham - new communities secretary
John Hutton - quitting as defence secretary
Jim Murphy - stays as Scottish Secretary
Sir Alan Sugar - enterprise czar (non-Cabinet post)

John Hutton has now quit after a Cabinet Reshuffle

Now reads as:

CABINET RESHUFFLE
Alistair Darling - stays as chancellor
Alan Johnson - new home secretary
David Miliband - stays as foreign secretary
Jack Straw - stays as justice secretary
Lord Mandelson - stays as business secretary
Yvette Cooper - new work and pensions secretary
Ed Balls - stays as schools secretary
John Denham - new communities secretary
John Hutton - quitting as defence secretary
Jim Murphy - stays as Scottish Secretary
Sir Alan Sugar - enterprise czar (non-Cabinet post)
Sir Alan Sugar ?

Latest on the Cabinet Reshuffle

NEW JOBS:
Alan Johnson - Home secretary
Andy Burnham - Health
Yvette Cooper - Work and pensions
Bob Ainsworth - Defence
John Denham - Communities
Liam Byrne - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Sir Alan Sugar - Enterprise czar (non-Cabinet post)

STAYING PUT:
Alistair Darling - chancellor
David Miliband - Foreign
Jack Straw - Justice
Lord Mandelson - Business
Ed Balls - Schools
Ed Miliband - Climate
Shaun Woodward - Northern Ireland
Jim Murphy - Scotland

QUITTING:
John Hutton
James Purnell
Jacqui Smith
Hazel Blears
Geoff Hoon

Jacqui Smith resigned so that she cna keep an eye on her husband.

Fast forward one year and I wonder if the Tories will be doing the self-same thing? (Albeit 13 years as opposed to 18...)



Probably, that's what they did last time.  ::)

Jacqui Smith resigned so that she cna keep an eye on her husband.


All the others have resigned to spend more time with their money... ::)

All the others have resigned to spend more time with their money... ::)
...and retired to their second homes?

Not sure what the outcome will be (I'll have to read my papers more carefully!) if Gordy got the push next week, just say...

Will we have a second 'unelected' PM? Or would an election have to be called?

The only 'resigning' PM that I remember was Harold Wilson...


I don't think another election has to be called technically, according to Westminster tradition, and I say this while making the assumption that the Canadian and British governments work pretty much identically.

Elections happen when a parliament is dissolved, and there's nothing in the resignation of a PM that demands parliamentary dissolution. I assume Labour has a majority, so what would need to happen is presumably one of three things:

1. Enough Labour MPs in parliament lose faith in Brown and vote against him in a confidence vote along with the opposition.

2. Brown himself does the right thing and asks Her Majesty to dissolve parliament.

3. Lastly, and this is the most unlikely thing and will not happen, it is possible in the event of a constitutional crisis that Her Majesty the Queen can herself decide unilaterally to dissolve parliament if it is in the best interest of the country. However, such a unilateral decision on the part of the Sovereign would itself be a constitutional crisis so I don't think we risk ever seeing this happen.

I don't think another election has to be called technically, according to Westminster tradition, and I say this while making the assumption that the Canadian and British governments work pretty much identically.

It's unprecedented, (which I why I kind of asked the board at large), but I seem to think that it would be 'business as usual', if highly unusual...

Elections happen when a parliament is dissolved, and there's nothing in the resignation of a PM that demands parliamentary dissolution.

Quite so...Wilson did it in '76 and Blair did it recently, but there's only been one 'handover' in a governmental term of office...

I assume Labour has a majority, so what would need to happen is presumably one of three things:

1. Enough Labour MPs in parliament lose faith in Brown and vote against him in a confidence vote along with the opposition.

Depends on how many are prepared to stab him in the backs to save their own skin...we'll see if they've got the guts sometime this week!

2. Brown himself does the right thing and asks Her Majesty to dissolve parliament.

Highly unlikely until he serves his term...the guy's stubborn-ness is legendary!

3. Lastly, and this is the most unlikely thing and will not happen, it is possible in the event of a constitutional crisis that Her Majesty the Queen can herself decide unilaterally to dissolve parliament if it is in the best interest of the country. However, such a unilateral decision on the part of the Sovereign would itself be a constitutional crisis so I don't think we risk ever seeing this happen.


I've got more chance of going on the p*ss with The Pope!

Option 1 is the one to watch...enough disquiet could possibly be a trigger for a 'no-confidence' vote (which brought Labour down in 1979)...

Other than that, if Gordy manages to navigate his way through it all, then public judgement will be passed next year!

Incidentally, at the last election, the Tories did start a "Vote for Blair and you'll get Brown" scare campaign, but at the time the public seemed to like the idea (shows how much of an idea we all had about Brown back then), and the Labour polls actually increased.  The "we didn't vote for Brown" argument doesn't really hold water, as all the polls from the last election showed that we *would* have voted for him.

I'll bet that he's wishing he had taken over either a year or two earlier, or possibly a year or two later, though: as perfect sheeshstorms go, he's had one since becoming PM.

Paul Krugman had some interesting observations about this in his latest column

Brown's administration is starting to progress like Survivor.  "Sorry sir, you've been voted off of the island(s)."

I think it's starting to look a bit like a song ;)