I have now managed to run ./configure (with python 2.7) after getting numerous patches from http://cgit.openembedded.org/cgit.cg...recipes/python. Although I cannot run make:
~/MyDocs/.documents/Python-2.7.1 $ make
gcc -c -fno-strict-aliasing -g -O2 -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -I. -IInclude -I./Include -DPy_BUILD_CORE -o Modules/python.o ./Modules/python.c
In file included from Include/Python.h:58,
from ./Modules/python.c:3:
Include/pyport.h:243:13: error: #error "This platform's pyconfig.h needs to define PY_FORMAT_LONG_LONG"
make: *** [Modules/python.o] Error 1
~/MyDocs/.documents/Python-2.7.1 $