New Labour rises again? Introducing ‘The Purple Book’

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

There’s a great scoop by Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£) today, about plans for Progress and others associated with New Labour to publish a “Purple Book” of modernising ideas, similar to the Lib Dem “Orange Book” once published by those around Nick Clegg. But whatever you do, don’t call these people “Blairites” – this seems to be an attempt not only to rebrand New Labour ideas without Blair attached to them, but also to reframe New Labour for the 21st century. The key passage of Sylvester’s article is this:

“”Purple was the colour of new Labour,” says one of those involved. “It’s what you get if you combine red and blue. It symbolises the need to stay on the centre ground.” Like The Orange Book, which came out in 2004, the purple one will be made up of contributions by different writers, including Shadow Cabinet ministers, rising stars on the back benches and party advisers. Tessa Jowell, Liam Byrne and Alan Milburn are among those who have already agreed to contribute, as well as some of the new MPs, including Liz Kendall, a former aide to Patricia Hewitt, and John Woodcock, who once worked for John Hutton.

There will be other, high-profile names added to the list before the book is published in the autumn, around the time of the Labour Party conference. It is not yet clear whether David Miliband will write a chapter, although he sympathises with the aims of The Purple Book.”

Of course there are some associated with the book who backed David Miliband for the leadership, and see this as a way of exerting pressure on Ed as leader. Others take a similar but more pragmatic approach, and see this as an opportunity to get some words down on Ed’s “blank sheet of paper”.

Either way, this promises – along with Blue Labour – to be a fascinating addition to the debate.