Rt Hon David Blunkett MP: Media

"Substantial support or substantial acrimony"

David Blunkett appeared on the Today Programme this morning to discuss Tony Blair's legacy and his appearance before the Iraq Inquiry.

"There are a group of people ... who have never forgiven Tony Blair, for whom Iraq was an absolute defining moment," David said. "Most people have made their minds up.

"I don't think Tony Blair today will have any equivocation because he believed he was right and he still does."

Listen to the full interview here at the BBC website.

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David on Government announcement on literacy and numeracy strategy

You can hear David on this lunchtime's World at One following the Government's announcement of changes to the primary school curriculum and, specifically, the literacy and numeracy strategies brought in when he was Education and Employment Secretary.

Tune in to Radio 4 at 1pm or listen via the BBC iPlayer.

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Blunkett slams Lib Dem record in local government

The Lib Dems are preparing for their Local Government Conference, to be held in Sheffield on Friday and Saturday.

To mark this auspicious occasion, David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside and former leader of Sheffield Council, is publishing Evasions, U-turns and Broken Promises: A Snapshot of the Lib Dems in Local Government in Sheffield.

This document details how the Lib Dems adminstration, in just 12 months in power, have:

diverted money away from the poorest areas of Sheffield and redistributed it to the wealthiest areas, irrespective of need;
set up sham consultations with local people;
confirmed that they’re soft on crime;
rejected government cash to provide free swimming for children and older people, buy homes from families facing repossession which could then be rented back to them, and to buy unsold homes from developers to let to people on the housing waiting-list;
tried to slide out of a City Council commitment to modernise 2,000 homes; and
broken promise after promise.

You can down the full document here: Download Evasions, U-turns and Broken Promises (Microsoft Word file)

Full press release here.

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We must act now to invest in this generation

David Blunkett has reacted to today's unemployment figures by calling on the Government to do its utmost to prevent another 'lost generation' of jobless young people.

"What we cannot allow to happen is the condemning of a whole generation of young people to joblessness and a lack of skills and investment," he says. "That happened under the Conservatives, with all the problems that resulted — which this Government has done so much to put right since 1997."

Mr Blunkett also released data which shows the difference between the level of unemployment now — both in terms of the International Labour Organisation measure and those claiming Jobseekers' Allowance — and the 18 years of Conservative rule.

The data — given to Mr Blunkett in answer to a Parliamentary Question — reminds us that unemployment was above 2 million for 17 out of the 18 years under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Download Unemployment 1979-2009 (Microsoft Excel file)

Read the full press release here.

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Cow incident as metaphor

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Statement on James Purnell's resignation

David Blunkett has issued the following statement in the wake of Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell's resignation from the Cabinet.

“If there was ever a moment for steady hearts and clear heads, this is it. Decisions must not be taken on a rollercoaster, with this drip-drip of deeply damaging action.

“The most senior members of the Cabinet must make their support for the Prime Minister unequivocally clear if the draining away of political lifeblood is not to become unstoppable. I am giving my loyalty to Gordon Brown, as I stated in my Guardian article today.

“Everyone should take a deep breath, pause and examine the consequences of gross instability on the economy and well-being of the nation – as well as the simple, practical logistics as regards the Labour party’s constitution for what is now apparently being sought.

“Everyone of any political experience needs to take a step back and act with maturity in dealing with what is unquestionably a crisis for the party and not an issue of personality – which some well-meaning colleagues appear to think.”

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Blunkett TV

David Blunkett has appeared on two BBC programmes with a literature flavour.

First, he contributed to Poetry Please: Thirty Years of the People's Poetry, about the Radio 4 programme of the same name. You can watch again here using the BBC iPlayer.

Second, top comedy writer Armando Iannucci narrated Armando Iannucci in Milton's Heaven and Hell, focusing on John Milton's epic "Paradise Lost". Watch it here.

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