Purnell 'hopes he is wrong' on PM

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James Purnell, who quit the cabinet last month, has said he hopes he was wrong when he said Gordon Brown made a Labour election defeat more likely.

The former work and pensions secretary said he wished to be made to look "an absolute idiot" by a Labour victory.

Asked whether his resignation had been disloyal, he told the BBC he was just being "honest" about how he felt.

But former deputy leader of the Labour Party Roy Hattersley said he found Mr Purnell's departure "incomprehensible".

In his first television interview since he left government on the day of last month's local and European election results, Mr Purnell told BBC 2's Newsnight he still wished for Labour success despite what he said in his resignation letter to the prime minister.

'Old history'

In it, he called on Mr Brown to step down and said his continued leadership made "a Conservative victory more, not less likely".

"I do hope that I turn out to be completely wrong about it," he told the BBC. "I hope I look an absolute idiot on election day and the Labour party does win and that Gordon is a success.

I think I was honest. I said something which I believed to be true and the reasons for that are very clear in my letter James PurnellFormer work and pensions secretary

"I said what I said, it's old history - now what I'm doing is moving on to new ideas and being able to help to contribute in the way that I can outside government."

On the subject of disloyalty, he said his decision was one based on honesty.

"I think I was honest. I said something which I believed to be true and the reasons for that are very clear in my letter."

Asked if he had made a mistake by leaving, he said: "No, not at all."

But Lord Hattersley told the programme he could not understand why Mr Purnell left.

"I found his resignation incomprehensible, because had he forced Gordon into going... we would have certainly had a leadership election and then we'd have been forced into a general election, which would have produced catastrophe for the Labour Party."

'Equality of capability'

Mr Purnell, who has launched a three-year Open Left project with thinktank Demos to examine what it means to be left wing, went on to urge Labour Party members to recognise their shared values.

"I think what we need to do is renew ourselves and I think that goes through idealism. I think it goes through going back to our basic principles and articulating them for today."

He argued there was a real consensus around the idea of "equality of capability", which would require a radical redistribution of income and power enabling people of all backgrounds to fulfil their potential.

My fear is we are going backwards not forwards Lord Hattersley

"It is a hugely radical idea, but it is one that unites the left."

This was the Labour Party's common cause, he said.

But Lord Hattersley said Mr Purnell's ideas for the party's renewal looked "dangerously like going back to what got us into trouble in the first place, which is Blairism".

"That's overreliance on the markets, that's the withdrawal of the state from providing directly public services, and that's a belief that people should be given more choice when very often the choice is going to benefit those who already have too much and is going to do very little for those who have too little."

"My fear is we are going backwards not forwards," he added.

On Saturday, Mr Purnell said he had lost faith in Mr Brown as leader six months before he resigned.

Mr Purnell told the Guardian he had been considering resigning since December because he no longer believed Mr Brown could win the next election.