The aspirational classes
To Purnell, these people - the tabloid readers, the 5Live listeners - are the ones who decide British elections. Educated at the Royal Grammar in Guildford, he speaks with a near obsession about the "aspirational class" - the strivers, the people who want to get on in life, the people who work six nights a week for their families. In Purnell's analysis, Labour deservedly lost power in the 1980s by forgetting these "aspirational" people with whom Thatcher so powerfully identified. It is not much of an exaggeration to say it's his mission in politics to make sure this doesn't happen again.
On 24 January, Purnell was put in a position to do something about it. Brown took the gamble of having him replace Peter Hain as Work and Pensions Secretary - and aged just 37, he took on Whitehall's most troublesome and complex department. His appointment left many perplexed. Until then, he had been known only for the disastrous incident where a hospital had faked his picture, after he turned up late for a photocall. To his enemies, he was the epitome of the spin politician who had been brought in to make Gordon Brown look younger.
It is worth exploring this caricature of Purnell in some detail. First, consider his dress sense.
He buys two expensive suits a year and chooses Paul Smith, right down to the pointy shoes with trademark purple laces. Then, his hairstyle. "If he wanted to conceal how serious he is, he couldn't do better than those awful sideburns," one of his friends once told me. He has (so far) refused to shave them off. He does not put on a class warrior act, as he does not pretend to be much of a warrior.
According to his background, he should have been a Tory. Educated at the fee-paying Guildford Royal Grammer School and some comprehensives in France - the son of a civil servant and an accountant - he enjoyed a Middle England upbringing. Had his grandfather not been a committed CND activist, infusing his family with left-wing politics, Purnell may have ended up in the other party. His move to politics came when he was at Oxford. Chloe Wasserman, the granddaughter of Hugh Gaitskell, a former Labour Party leader, suggested he should become an intern. His golfing partner, Tim Allen, recommended contacting Tony Blair.
The young Purnell was then worked to the bone by Blair, Brown and the group of people who would go on to become New Labour (incidentally, Allen went on to be Blair's deputy press secretary).
After the 1992 defeat, Purnell had a brief career in London's media world. Like Grayling, he worked for the BBC in the business development side.When Labour won the election, he spent some time as a special adviser to Blair while serving on the board of the Young Vic theatre. In 2001 he was elected as MP for Stalybridge and Hyde.
