Purnell takes an apparent swipe at Brown on child poverty and says Labour’s backbench rebels are “entitled to do anything they want to”

There was a fascinating debate tonight, sponsored by the Evening Standard, about whether or not New Labour is doomed for defeat. James Purnell had drawn the short straw of being the Labour politician on the panel and in the circumstances he turned in a fine performance. But there were a couple of moments that caused the Kremlinologists in the room to draw breath. First he announced that the reason child poverty is not about to being eliminated is not, as the Tories argue, because big state solutions don’t work but because the money earmarked in recent Budgets for the task has been insufficient. Now, when you consider who has been Chancellor and then First Lord of the Treasury during this time one gets the impression that the Blairite Purnell was criticising Brown from the left. (This is the second time in a week that a leading Blairite has gone out of his way to demonstrate his belief in the powers of the state; Stephen