December 21
2004
What has happened to the David Blunkett I knew? (Independent)
» Posted on December 21, 2004 10:46 AM » Category: Blunkett

It is almost always a mistake to second guess the conclusions of official inquiries. Rarely do they live up - or down - to the pre-publicity. But unlike the case with most such documents, Sir Alan Budd has already given us a sneak preview of his report with the publication last week of the so-called "timeline" behind the curious incident of the nanny's visa and the Home Secretary's private office.

Indeed, it was the pre-publication revelation of an e-mail from the Immigration and Nationality Department (IND) in Croydon to David Blunkett's office, which talked of having processed the visa application with "No favours, but slightly quicker", that in the end did for Mr Blunkett. We await Sir Alan's findings today for a fuller account of the comings and goings of the various pieces of paper. But as Mr Blunkett's biographer, I have been struck by one particular aspect of the affair.

I have spent three years studying David Blunkett's life. I have spoken to friends, colleagues, family, opponents and acquaintances. One thing has been mentioned above all others: his astonishing memory. I have heard from people who had one conversation with him, sometimes a decade or more ago, who have then met him again to discover that he can recall their previous exchange in exact detail.

It is his memory, above all else, that has enabled him not merely to compete with sighted ministers but to outperform them. And yet, when he resigned on Wednesday, Mr Blunkett told Andrew Marr on the BBC that "we didn't have a recollection, I don't just mean me, but throughout the system, of the letter [about Ms Casalme's case] actually being put into the system".

Come again? Forget his officials' involvement for a moment. Perhaps some of them really are as monumentally incompetent as some - not least the former Home Secretary himself, in his interviews with me - allege. We will need to wait for Sir Alan's findings to form a judgement on their involvement.

But there is already one element of the affair which is self-evidently preposterous. According to Mr Blunkett's explanation, he forgot putting into his red ministerial box a letter about the visa application for his own son's nanny. I am unable to comprehend how such an explanation is remotely possible. This is a man who can recall trivial conversations from 20 years ago with constituents about refuse collections; with a memory so powerful, its like has never before been seen in politics. And yet he forgot, he says, that he put his son's nanny's visa application into the system.

Pull the other one.

So what is going on? I thought I knew the man. In all my research, and in my conversations with him, I have found David Blunkett to be honest and decent. He has long valued his reputation for straight talking. But he has changed.

Once again, it is not the act itself that is necessarily the real problem but the cover-up. If Mr Blunkett had stood up and said, on the day after the allegations were first made, that there had indeed been special treatment, but that it was, after all, for his own son's nanny, then maybe he would still have had to resign. But he would have done so with his head held high, and with the understanding of most people. All he would have been guilty of was putting his family first.

Instead, he made a statement that, clearly, was not even remotely true. His office did not, we can already say with certainty, process the visa application off its own back. It did so because the Home Secretary alerted them to it. The allegations of bullying are a distraction. According to some reports, Mr Blunkett ran a regime of fear. He has been guilty of significant mistakes; but there is another agenda at play here. The former home secretary inherited a department that was a byword for inefficiency and incompetence, and ordered a large scale clear-out of the dead wood. The bullying allegations are the belated response, and deserve to be treated as piffle.

The real problem is the visa story itself, which stems from the influence exerted over David Blunkett by Kimberly Quinn, a woman who with every passing day emerges as a more unsavoury character. Mr Blunkett is rightly being held responsible for his own actions, but he became a different man when he began his relationship with her. At the very least, the old David Blunkett - the pre-Fortier version, if you will - would have been alive to the political suicide inherent in trying to cover-up his actions. But his judgement became so clouded by love he behaved like a different man.

I believe there is a pattern in his behaviour, post-Fortier, that also explains his recklessly frank comments to me about his Cabinet colleagues. He lost the judgement that had served him so well for his 34 years in politics, and behaved as if he had no care for the future, only for doing what his gut instinct told him he needed to do at the time. That meant not only helping to secure a visa for his son's nanny, but also letting off steam about his colleagues.

David Blunkett was not the first, and will not be the last, person to be brought down by falling in love with the wrong person.


MessageSpace
Comments

Good point about his memory. Richard Littlejohn raised it last Friday in The Sun.

Stated by: Mark on December 21, 2004 2:10 PM

Come off it, Stephen!

If he "behaved as if he had no care for the future", would he have lied to protect his job? Surely, he would just have accepted he was caught out. As you point out, immediate acceptance of wrong-doing would perhaps have been better for his political career in the long run. It seems to be that he dissembled the truth to protect as best as possible his "future" as Home Secretary.

If his judgement was so easily "clouded by love" then he was not fit to be in office, regardless of how manipulative the tramp (well, she ain't no lady) he happend to be shagging was.

If his "gut instinct" told him to lie, or mouth off about those he works with, or even to fast-track a visa, then, again, he's not fit for office.

As for KF being the "wrong person"! Clearly Blunkett did not think so for quite some time, some of which was spent in her intimate embrace. The problem, the ONLY problem, with DB and this whole affair is that he allowed the personal to mingle with his position as a Minister of State.

And just how is "letting off setam about his colleagues" (a crass lack of judgement I admit) explicable for a man in his position and with 34 years of political experience behind him? I might expect it from, say, Twigg, being recorded secretly, but not the third most powerful politician in the land, EVEN if he is renowned for his bluntness. You seem to imply this spillage is all Kimberly's fault, or at least she was the reason for Blunkett acting on his "gut instinct": if so, gawd help us that the judgement of our senior politicians is such that they are so readily affected by the charms of the likes of her.

"...he made a statement that, clearly, was not even remotely true". End of bloody story.


Stated by: James B on December 22, 2004 4:59 PM

I'm not even convinced that there was anything wrong with what Blunkett did in connexion with the nanny's visa. He may have indicated, by putting the letter about the time it might take to process the application in his red box, that he wanted the processing done more quickly (indeed he may even presumably have told his private office to chase it up), but I see nothing requiring a resignation about getting the system to process quickly an application from someone he wanted to help. There's no suggestion that he wanted it approved despite it not being eligible for approval, nor that it would have been rejected but for his intervention (if you can call it that). In fact the killer e-mail specifically says that there was no special treatment apart from the slightly quicker processing. It was the extraordinary muddle over who did what and to whom, the denials later found to be false, that brought him down -- probably unnecessarily.

Nevertheless I was glad he resigned, although sorry for him on a personal level. He was a terrible Home Secretary, one of the most illiberal and repressive in my (long) lifetime, and his programmes, policies and crass utterances did him and the Labour Party (which I have supported all my life) no credit at all.

Obviously I had better now buy The Book!

Brian
http://ephems.blogspot.com/

Stated by: Brian Barder on December 28, 2004 11:23 PM

Me again! PS: For a comment I poisted on my own blog on the Blunkett saga in late November, before it all came to a head, please see
http://ephems.blogspot.com/2004/11/david-blunkett-ultimate-irony.html

B.

Stated by: Brian Barder on December 28, 2004 11:27 PM

Hi Stephen,

I thouroughly agreed with your article in today's Daily Mail.
The BBC must be one of the most biased news reporting agencies outside of the United States. Being a publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC is supposed to report issues in black and white, therefore letting the public make up his or her mind on the issue of the day.
Instead it decides to get bogged down with semantical theories of 'fair play' and really just washes over the issue at hand. Terrorists committed an act of terrorism in London. If the word Terrorist is good enough for our socialist Prime Minister then it is good enough for the BBC. They need to stop being so politically correct and let us 'non muslims' decide for ourselves the truth.

Stated by: Ben Dahlstrom on July 13, 2005 4:33 PM

Hi Stephen,

I thouroughly agreed with your article in today's Daily Mail.
The BBC must be one of the most biased news reporting agencies outside of the United States. Being a publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC is supposed to report issues in black and white, therefore letting the public make up his or her mind on the issue of the day.
Instead it decides to get bogged down with semantical theories of 'fair play' and really just washes over the issue at hand. Terrorists committed an act of terrorism in London. If the word Terrorist is good enough for our socialist Prime Minister then it is good enough for the BBC. They need to stop being so politically correct and let us 'non muslims' decide for ourselves the truth.

Stated by: Ben Dahlstrom on July 13, 2005 4:34 PM

So Dave "I like um young" Blunkett is making headlines again and all for the wrong reasons. Keep in mind that every lady has to sell her new "boy friend" to friends and family. Hence the one-liner bandied about among ex-pats in Asia; "She may have to lie about my age". You'd have to be a tad insensitive not to feel embarrassment when meeting mom and dad, when the parents are younger than you. Still, no problem for thick-skin Dave, although unfortunately for him there's no way anyone can convincingly lie about his age.
Normally for us boys starting over, a dental scale and polish, a Nissan 350Z and some wardrobe updating, and you're back on the market. But you do tend to keep bringing the target age down. Logically an older woman with all the confidence, poise, connections, experience, education and sophistication acquired through graduating from the University of Life would be your target. But regrettable it just isn’t so. Largely because women anything close to your own age have "form" and take out on you all their frustrations from previous relationships.
So at a personal level, I do understand where you are coming from Dave.
However, as a politician, the sooner your guide dog leads you out in front of a bus the better I’ll like it.
But for British men that match the profile described, the sooner you check out what Asia and particularly Tokyo has to offer in terms of main squeeze replacement, the less nervous energy you’ll waste on a fruitless search in the UK.

Stated by: Andrew Milner on September 27, 2005 4:28 AM

So Dave "I like um young" Blunkett is making headlines again and all for the wrong reasons. Keep in mind that every lady has to sell her new "boy friend" to friends and family. Hence the one-liner bandied about among ex-pats in Asia; "She may have to lie about my age". You'd have to be a tad insensitive not to feel embarrassment when meeting mom and dad, when the parents are younger than you. Still, no problem for thick-skin Dave, although unfortunately for him there's no way anyone can convincingly lie about his age.
Normally for us boys starting over, a dental scale and polish, a Nissan 350Z and some wardrobe updating, and you're back on the market. But you do tend to keep bringing the target age down. Logically an older woman with all the confidence, poise, connections, experience, education and sophistication acquired through graduating from the University of Life would be your target. But regrettable it just isn’t so. Largely because women anything close to your own age have "form" and take out on you all their frustrations from previous relationships.
So at a personal level, I do understand where you are coming from Dave.
However, as a politician, the sooner your guide dog leads you out in front of a bus the better I’ll like it.
But for British men that match the profile described, the sooner you check out what Asia and particularly Tokyo has to offer in terms of main squeeze replacement, the less nervous energy you’ll waste on a fruitless search in the UK.

Stated by: Andrew Milner on September 27, 2005 4:34 AM

jpb ppyt psycholog zdrowa żywność nieruchomości projektowanie stron agencja reklamowa soczewki kontaktowe nauka angielskiego agroturystyka opony klimatyzacja domy opieki akupunktura hydraulik projektowanie wnętrz soha jpk paa ki wypadki tfrd jh sw jft pp fdr

Stated by: art on April 13, 2006 8:33 PM

美女视频录像
激情自拍录像
三级片
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费激情电影
免费色情电影
免费性交电影
免费性爱电影
三级片
美女视频录像
人体艺术图辑
黄色网站
色情
色情网站
成人网站
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
三级片
黄色网站
激情小电影
激情小电影
艺术激情享受
激情小电影
日本强奸电影
郎裸体图库
林心如拍黄的图片
性生活片电影在线
性感丝袜美女图片
玉蒲团之玉女心经
十八淫书
色兔妹妹图片
全球十大禁片bt下载
性交裸体图
亚洲成人淫民网
妹妹厕所走光图片
视频聊天
成人电影
黄色电影
激情电影
色情电影
性交电影
性爱电影
情色电影
同志电影下载
激情视频下载
明星露点图片
写真电影
阴部图片
乳房图片
明星裸照
性爱视频
偷拍图片
免费电影网
免费在线电影
看免费电影
免费电影网站
最新韩国电影
两性生活
性教育片
免费电影神话
最新电影无极
免费激情电影
免费黄色电影
最新电影下载
成人性爱电影
美女图片
美女走光
美腿图片
三级片
强奸电影
美女祼体图片
黄色电影下载
免费色情电影
性感美女图片
漂亮妹妹图片
做爱图片
美少女
幼女图片
舒淇写真集舒淇全裸照
偷窥电影偷窥小说偷窥图片
美女被强歼小说
巨乳小电影免费下载
美女厕所偷窥
视频mm自拍艳舞
仙人洞美女
一个馒头引发的血案
神雕侠侣
少妇
美女 美女图
明星露点写真
裸体写真 明星裸体写真
人体艺术写真
美臀
女人图片 性感美女图片
女性乳房 女性乳房写真
女人屁股 女性屁股 偷拍
偷拍女人的图片
18 贴 图 台湾 成人
男同性恋写真图片
午夜天堂成人小说-午夜天堂成人电影
台湾网络小说 台湾网络电影
小龙女与尹志平
图片性闻
美女洗澡小游戏 美女洗澡偷拍电影
艳舞
成人图库
女明星图片
丁字裤
免费电影在线看
免费电视连续剧收看
美臀 翘臀 图片
少妇展穴
色影无忌
三级片
性感美女床上自拍
三级片
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费色情电影
免费成人电影
免费色情电影
免费黄色电影
免费成人电影
免费黄色电影
免费黄色电影
免费色情电影
免费色情电影
床第间的正点自拍
露点图片
女性最易献身时刻
自拍DV
偷拍录象
美女诱惑写真自拍短片
人体艺术另类
成人小说
黄色网站
成人论坛
成人图片
走光
三级片
视频录像激情视频
18dy-脱轨电影,tuogui
性感美女床上自拍
色情影音-激情写真media情色
激动电影-18dy
18dy-激动电影
免费小电影
性电影
免费成人电影下载
免费电影在线观看
宽带电影
经典电影下载
免费恐怖电影
免费影片下载
免费影院
最新大片
十八电影网
美女写真
人体艺术
日本av电影
情色电影
同志电影下载
激情视频下载
明星露点图片
写真电影
阴部图片
乳房图片
人体写真
美国大片
免费成人影片
在线看电影
成人网站
乳房 图 奸淫
极品嫩穴图片
美女插穴
黄色小说
在线激情电影
性教育电影
两性电影
看电影的网站
免费看电影
免费在线电影
免费电影下载

Stated by: 激情自拍录像 on July 3, 2006 4:45 PM

asstraffic gloria* asstraffic jenny* bitch mature sexy* black blonde mature* big big breasts com* big bossoms* puma black allinternal* sabina allinternal* ass parade dasha* big tits roud ass* yaba daba screw* young craizy*

Stated by: bundlebox on July 15, 2006 11:18 PM
Post a comment

    


    •