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

To punish MPs because of the distance they live from London - those with fast train journeys quite close to London as well as those at some distance from both the capital or an appropriate airport - is perverse, but also dangerous to democracy.

David Blunkett

We must look to an open, tolerant, inclusive England, which embraces the values of a Britain that still leads the world in terms of an open democracy, as well as an understanding of the needs for responsibilities and obligations to run alongside the ...

David Blunkett

Yes, it will go through the disciplines that all puppies go through including house training and puppy walking, then at twelve month old it the training becomes a lot more rigorous which has to be done carefully otherwise you are in danger of stressi...

David Blunkett

With the commissioning of new schools undertaken by a local director of school standards, decisions will be fair and transparent, rooted in the needs of the local community. The admissions code and the role of the adjudicator will also be strengthene...

David Blunkett

My integrity had been called into question; I was being called a liar, and I am not a liar. And I just think it is time that we stop viewing public figures as fair game.

David Blunkett

If you have a sense of irony or humour, you're usually cut down, as you're usually distorted or misinterpreted. So it does lead to us being slightly more dour and staid and predictable than would otherwise be the case, which I personally find quite f...

David Blunkett

And we think that our citizens and yours would be very angry if they thought that we hadn't taken every possible step for prevention and then for joint action in the likelihood of those who threaten our lives and our well- being, taking action at the...

David Blunkett

Human nature is you get carried away, so we have to protect ourselves from ourselves.

David Blunkett

I am totally in favour of reform - but it must be reform that changes the nature of British politics, not simply the makeup or operation of parliament.

David Blunkett

If, in the name of liberty, we allow individuals to act in a way that damages the wellbeing of the whole, it will inevitably mean the breakdown of mutuality, thereby changing the very nature of our society.

David Blunkett

Changes to parliamentary procedure won't transform the lives of the people whom I represent. Decentralising, devolving decision-making and renewing civil society will.

David Blunkett

In an ageing society, it makes sense to support older adults to develop new skills, prolonging their working lives.

David Blunkett

Privacy is a right, but as in any democratic society, it is not an absolute right.

David Blunkett

We need to use all the resources at our disposal in order to prosper. We need more employment, and we need employment to be spread more fairly across society.

David Blunkett

Politics is about the participation and engagement of the wider citizenry - to miss that point would doom us to irrelevance.

David Blunkett

We need to reaffirm that politics is not merely compatible with economic progress and development in the 21st century, but essential to it.

David Blunkett

We've got to get back to old-fashioned politics that's in touch with the people we seek to represent and to avoid self-inflicted wounds.

David Blunkett

Politics is only worthwhile if you are doing what you believe, regardless of the slings and arrows.

David Blunkett

By confirming the importance of politics and politicians in Britain, we can build from the bottom up and begin to reverse the worrying anti-politics trend, which will empower the elite technocrats and leave defenceless the man or woman in the street ...

David Blunkett

I didn't come into politics to have to deal with the issue of clandestine entry, illegal working, or an asylum system that allows a free run for right-wing bigots.

David Blunkett

Without the political parties and the volunteering work of their members day in, day out, we would have a very different sort of politics and society.

David Blunkett

Author Bio

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