Departing Labour MP James Purnell is to join the board of Acevo from January 2011, in return for “a nominal sum”.

The appointment will take place subject to approval from Acevo members at the body’s AGM that month.

Purnell stood down from the Labour Cabinet in June 2009 in protest at Gordon Brown’s leadership of the Party. In February 2010 he announced his intention to stand down from Parliament altogether.

He has since become increasingly involved in the work of the think-tank Demos and advocacy group London Citizens.

Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, said: "I have been courting James for years, so I am delighted he will finally be joining me round the board table."

Bubb and Purnell have for some time had a strong relationship. On the creation of the Future Jobs Fund, Purnell said: “Without the work of Acevo this announcement would not have been possible.

“In particular, the paper Stephen Bubb prepared demonstrated that the voluntary sector has the ideas to create employment for people out of work.”

Prior to the announcement, Bubb had written on his blog: “I saw him on Thursday. A great meeting. He is a real star.”

In an earlier post, he had said: “The more I see of James Purnell the more impressed I am. He is great talking to the punters (there are a bunch of third sector leaders here who give James a good talking to on the need for local and regional contracting!).

“He really ‘gets it’ on the role of the sector and when I first proposed this idea he quickly spotted the potential. No long debates and internal discussions whilst the official machinery debated the merits and demerits. He got the point. He wants action.”