Purnell - Good riddance

I shouldn't post while angry, but the resignation of James Purnell has really set me on edge. It's not that he's resigned, Purnell doesn't seem to have the interests of the working class at heart and I'm not sure why he would want to be in the Labour Party, but the hypocrisy of his resignation letter (as leaked to the Murdoch press - surprised it wasn't the Mail).

He says in it

"This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, better public services, an open democracy.

It calls for a government that measures itself by how it treats the poorest in society. Those are our values, not David Cameron's."

This comes from a man who wanted to charge punative interest rates on social fund payments to the poorest in our society. This comes from a man who wants the poorest to jump through bureaucratic hoops in order to get the benefit they are entitled to. This comes from a man who has launched advertising making out that all benefit claimants are potential crooks while engaging in tax evasion himself.

He shouldn't have been given the chance to resign, he ought to have been kicked out of Cabinet long before now. The Labour Party has been damaged long enough by despicable men like Purnell.

Update - The original version of this called Purnell a crook and hoped that he would be in prison soon. That's what comes from posting in anger and I apologise. I accept that Purnell technically obeyed the law, but ethically a Labour supporter shouldn't use taxpayer's money to find ways to avoid paying tax.