Read James Purnell's resignation letter to Gordon Brown in full:

Dear Gordon,

We both love the Labour Party. I have worked for it for twenty years and you for far longer. We know we owe it everything and it owes us nothing.

I owe it to our Party to say what I believe no matter how hard that may be. I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely.

That would be disastrous for our country. 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.

We therefore owe it to our country to give it a real choice. We need to show that we are prepared to fight to be a credible Government and have the courage to offer an alternative future.

I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our Party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from Government.

The Party was here long before us, and we want it to be here long after we have gone. We must do the right thing by it.

I am not seeking the leadership, nor acting with anyone else. My actions are my own considered view, nothing more. If the consensus is that you should continue, then I will support the Government loyally from the backbenches. But I do believe that this question now needs to be put.

Thank you for giving me the privilege of serving.

Yours,

Rt Hon James Purnell MP

• 

  Lenny Henry: 'Maybe one day we can have a black Doctor Who'

  Shortlisted at today's Evening Standard theatre awards for his role as Othello, Lenny Henry has come a long way from black and white minstrels

  ---

• 

  Spread of the Jedhead

  Jedward, voted off the X-Factor this weekend, are the most obvious proponents of the sticky-uppy look - but the style crosses boundaries of age, gender, sexuality and taste, says Nick Curtis

  ---

Sky in plot to hire students on the cheap

Sky News is currently recruiting students as reporters for its coverage of next year's general election. However, the opportunity doesn't quite seem so appealing

All stories