Note To Purnell – Progressive Conservative Means Will Achieve Progressive Ends

There’s a fascinating piece by James Purnell in this morning’s Guardian.  I haven’t made any secret of the fact that I think Purnell is one of the best thinkers in British politics today.  Today’s article does nothing to diminish that impression.  What he doesn’t acknowledge in this morning’s well crafted article is that a progressive Conservative government is more likely to achieve many of the goals he sets out than the Labour Party in its present mood.

It is interesting and notable that he points to Tawney as his Labour philosopher in chief throughout the article.  It’s anybody’s guess what the author of the Acquisitive Society and Equality would think of a Labour Government that presided over widening inequality and laid the groundwork for economic collapse with a catastrophic overdependence on the financial services sector in the South East of England.

Some of the ideas that Purnell puts forward in the piece would not be disagreed with by progressive Tories.  The belief that the state is too centralised is the cornerstone of so many progressive Conservative policies.  Or take the line on public services, “in public services, the lesson was that we should never be defenders of poor services…So we need to go further with reform in schools, for example, by having pupils apply to schools two or three years in advance, so oversubscribed schools can expand, undersubscribed ones be taken over, and new providers come in for pupils who don’t get a place at one of their chosen schools.”  Empowering parents and citizens is at the heart of a progressive Tory approach to public service reform.

Purnell is right when he talks about empowering society; empowering citizens; decentralising power; and tackling poverty.  Progressive goals are strongly held by progressive Conservatives – creating a fairer more equal society, in which power is less centralised and citizens are empowered are at the core of progressive Tory values.

Purnell must reflect that these progressive values have not moved closer after 13 years of ‘Labour’ Government.  During these 13 years, power has been relentlessly centralised; social mobility has stalled; inequality has widened; and citizens have never felt more disengaged or disempowered.  He should also reflect on the fact that there is no appetite in the Labour Party for the kind of reforms he advocates.

Related posts:

1. The chance to achieve excellence
2. The chance to achieve excellence
3. Building An Enduring Progressive Conservative Electoral Coalition
4. Purnell Wields The Knife – Surely Brown Will Be Gone Within Days
5. Using Our Progressive Past To Guide Our Progressive Future