Quotes by David Blunkett

About David Blunkett:

David Blunkett, is best known as a British politician and more recently academic, having represented the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency for 28 years through to the 7th of May when he stepped down at the General Election. Blind since birth, and coming from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts, he rose to become Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Much extremist activity falls short of directly inciting people to violence or other crimes and so is not caught by laws on incitement. Neither does the Public Order Act, used to protect groups of people from harassment, deal with the problem.

David Blunkett

People from all over the world were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. They came from many different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu believers were killed together as they worked in the to...

David Blunkett

I don't think anyone can say I have said one thing in public and done another in private.

David Blunkett

I have never tried to fiddle my role as leader of the city of Sheffield, as an MP or as a minister.

David Blunkett

But any perception of this application being speeded up requires me to take responsibility.

David Blunkett

I have made mistakes in the past, but when I have, I have always said so.

David Blunkett

I've had a guide dog since 1969. Not the same one, of course: I've had five.

David Blunkett

I should have been a Trappist monk.

David Blunkett

I'm as keen as the next person to preserve the right to free speech.

David Blunkett

In the U.K., we have always been an open, trading nation, enriched by our global links. Contemporary patterns of migration extend this tradition.

David Blunkett

We need dynamic and thriving businesses and a skilled and adaptable labour force to produce competitiveness and prosperity.

David Blunkett

I grew up in one of the most deprived parts of Britain. I know the problems which inner-city children face.

David Blunkett

In primary schools, I set two main objectives - to cut infant class sizes and improve literacy and numeracy.

David Blunkett

It's not just parliament that requires radical modernisation. It's our democratic processes.

David Blunkett

Parents don't believe that lifting life-chances in one school means reducing them in another.

David Blunkett

I am nothing if not a loyalist. After 46 years in the Labour party, I've grown weary of the cry: 'If only we had a new, shining, revamped leader, all would be well.'

David Blunkett

Businesses that fail to develop their staff are twice as likely to collapse. Firms seeking to reposition themselves for the economic upturn need to invest in their staff's flexibility, responsiveness and skills.

David Blunkett

I'm convinced that quite a lot of young people, when they get in trouble with the law, it's a cry for help there. Because it's not that they go out to offend. It's that their behaviour is self-parading, it's the big 'I'. And sometimes that means they...

David Blunkett

We need to build on what we know works - local oversight of schools to keep a check on performance, timely interventions in schools to support those at risk of failing, and partnerships between schools to help each one to improve.

David Blunkett

Speaking for the nation as a whole entails understanding and feeling the pain, as well as understanding the aspiration of the different cultural, social and political make-up of the nation.

David Blunkett

The clash between capital and labour, between those seeking to maximise profit and those with only their toil to sell, was the driving force for the creation of the trade unions in the 19th century.

David Blunkett

Author Bio

  • NameDavid Blunkett
  • DescriptionBritish politician
  • BornJune 6, 1947
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPolitician