James Purnell's Departure - a sign Labour think they're going to win?

So, arch Blairite James Purnell is the latest of the 87 or so Labour MPs to decide to quit politics.

Why? Surely in a few short months he'd have had a shot at standing for Labour leader as a defeated Gordon Brown headed back to Fife in disgrace. He could have been the one to have given the kiss of life to the Labour Party as it licked its wounds in opposition.

Or, maybe Labour's tails are starting to come up again. They can see the polls tightening and the Cameron majority evaporating. Maybe they think, and some are starting to fear, Cameron might not get a majority and Labour would somehow be able to continue in Government. Remember that Spitting Image sketch after the 92 election showing Major's cabinet wearily walking back into Downing Street to clear up the mess they left when they trashed the place in anticipation of a Labour victory?

Of course a victorious Gordon Brown would be safe in his Prime Ministerial office for the moment at least. In that case, would Purnell really want to be stuck on the back benches twiddling his thumbs? I can't see Brown surviving a whole Parliament without a bit of inter-necine strife, but even if he was deposed, that leader would face an uphill challenge. Maybe Purnell has decided he just doesn't want to be that man.

It is pretty shameful that Labour MPs are leaving it until this late to decide they want to quit. If Gordon Brown decided he wanted to call an election on 25th March, he'd have a tough job to get candidates in place in time in places like Edinburgh South, West Dunbartonshire, Ashfield and now Stalybridge.

Government implodes as treacherous Blairites get their revenge

I guess what I'm going to say isn't going to be that popular, but, hey, when did I ever let that stop me? My sympathy is actually with Gordon Brown this morning.

Sure, the Government is on its last legs, as I've written before. That's not all Gordon Brown's fault - the Labour Party lost its way a long time ago, when it came into office and cut benefits to lone parents, when it launched an illegal war in Iraq and when allowed people to be detained for 6 weeks without charge.

I remember the last time Ministers and MPs turned on a sitting PM - Mrs Thatcher in 1990. At that time, I actually has a fair amount of sympathy with the likes of Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd who were watching an arrogant, out of touch and intransigent Thatcher press on with her isolationist stance in Europe and the unfair Poll Tax.

This time, I have absolutely no sympathy with the assassins. Let's face it, Gordon's card was marked the second he walked into Downing Street. The Blairites were always going to be out to get their revenge for the wars that raged between number 10 and number 11 when their guy was PM.

I think the way in which Blears and Purnell have left has been absolutely disgraceful. Blears, already tarnished by the expenses scandal which meant her jacket was on a shoogly peg anyway (why the hell didn't Gordon sack her weeks ago?)decides to quit the day before a major election. Then, Purnell gives his resignation letter to the papers in the middle of the afternoon on polling day, leading to all sorts of rumours and leaks before the polls closed. Bloody hell! It's bad enough that cabinet ministers can't put the needs of the country, gripped by Labour's recession, above their plotting, but it's unbelievable that they are willing to drive a stake through the heart of any electoral prospects they might have.

While I can see how the public might have thought that the idea of Heseltine as PM 19years ago might have been a bit of an oasis after a long period of drought, I can't imagine that anybody actually thinks that Purnell, or even the matey Alan Johnson, could do any better.

My prediction on 1st January was that there wouldn't be a General Election in 2009 but it's looking as if it's now almost inevitable as we the Government dissolves in a lethal cocktail of incompetence and treachery.

The people deserve better - look back to Nick Clegg's words at PMQs the other day: "The Governemnt doesn't get it. Labour is finished. We don't have a Government, we have a void." It's highly insulting to the people who are losing their jobs right, left and centre to have Ministers concentrating on fighting each other rather than dealing with the recession and looking long term as to how it's going to deal with the resulting debt we're in.

If the Labour administration was a sick animal, the only humane thing to do would be to take it on a one way trip to the vet. Watching its howls of pain as it goes through its death throes makes me uncomfortable as well as angry.

Yes, Gordon Brown is complex, notoriously difficult to work for and has lurched from one disaster to another, but he looks good compared to the treacherous ministers who can scarcely hide their glee as they wield their daggers.

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