James Purnell

get the money back into where it's needed to help mediate these climate emergencies.

And by the way, don't contradict yourself by proposing this policy in effect, in a way to kind of apologise for giving the green light to Jackdaw gas oil extraction, when again, you know, we know these emergencies as listed on the site are going to be uh via climate mostly and at the same time your green lights and jack law you know natural resource extraction which you know it's complete mixed messaging isn't it and by the way that gas extraction is not going to help us because we're only going to have to buy it anyway so it's just that is not fighting neoliberalism is it that is giving the hand to the private companies that's just going to take our natural resources because his chief of staff, James Purnell, is basically captured by capital.

He used to be the CEO of a global lobbying firm.

Well,

It is notable that it was Josh Simons, former Director of Labour Together, who stood down to allow Burnham to stand in Makerfield, paving the way for him to re-enter Parliament.

Burnham appointed James Purnell as his Chief of Staff.

Purnell is a former New Labour Minister and former Chair of Labour Friends of Israel.

Although there is some greater diversity in the government, it remains firmly right-wing.

And remember, you know, he's been around a long time.

Him and James Purnell.

His chief of staff, you know, we're talking 30 plus years.

They were around under the Blair Brown years.

Burnham's own parliamentary register records a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in January of two thousand and four with travel and accommodation all paid for by Labor Friends of Israel and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

And more recently, he chose former Labes of- Labor Friends of Israel Chair James Purnell as his chief of staff, who was the chair of LFI at that time.

These are all identifiable relationships and appointments and declared fundings, all on the record.

Although we certainly can't say Gerber or Purnell are behind this move by Burnham now, they furnish a basis for judging Burnham's politics nevertheless, rather than assuming that this confrontation has come out of the blue, because all of this stands against his staunch defense of Israel, he has association with Israel, over all of this it seems, and certainly over the interests of local Labor groups.

It's an excellent column.

And actually, you make a really interesting point in the introduction that Andy Burnham and James Purnell, who is now Chief of Staff, they're the first number 10 team in a decade with fond memories of dealing with the EU as partners because they were ministers at that time.

Can you explain a bit about that?

So I suppose since kind of the 2016 vote, when the Cameron-Osborne partnership kind of collapses and they leave number 10 and number 11...

[laughs]

Allegedly, his chief of staff, James Purnell, used to work for a, a lobbying firm called f- uh, Flint-

Oh, shit, yes, I have heard this

...

Exactly.

Exactly.

So he's now become the Chief of Staff to Andy Burnham, which is the, which is probably the most powerful unelected position in the whole country.

And now Andy Burnham has sort of dropped the plan for public ownership, and he's now putting forward a kind of nine regional...

Robbie Gibb went from running the BBC's political programs to running communications for Theresa May, then returned to the BBC board afterwards.

Former Labor cabinet minister James Purnell has become the, became the BBC's Director of Strategy and later its Director of Radio, and he's now Andy Burnham's chief of staff.

Richard Sharp became BBC chair after helping to arrange an introduction involving Boris Johnson's personal finances, then resigned after an inquiry found the appointment process breached the governance code.

And now Rachel Jupp's brother is married to Labor MP Helen Hayes.

They have more power than either of the other two camps, since they hold key positions in Number 10.

Among them is James Purnell, Burnham's chief of staff, and one of his most trusted friends, and Purnell's close friend, Graham Cook, a former director of the IPPR, who is now director of Burnham's Number 10 policy unit.

Newcomers to the Burnham government have been reading a 2010 essay that Purnell and Cork wrote during a period of soul-searching after Gordon Brown lost the general election.

They argued that New Labour had failed to develop a philosophy for what a good society looked like, one that rejected the paternalism of the state and put people in charge of their lives.

Um, and I think we are now approaching a moment, pretty rare in politics, where there is a cross-party understanding that the system needs to change.

In the same way there was in America under Clinton and Gingrich, there was briefly when, um, when J- when James Purnell, now Andy, Andy Burnham's chief of staff, when he was, um, work and pensions secretary, then Chris Grayling, his opposite number, gave him support and they did a lot.

I think we've worked out now that we cannot afford this, not financially.

Financially is bad enough.