Top 55 David Blunkett Quotes

Let’s not allow the voice of the people to be overwhelmed by the siren song of those who opposed regulation, who demanded that government should stand aside and let finance and business run the show.

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.

I believe Britishness is defined not on ethnic and exclusive grounds but through shared values; our history of tolerance, openness and internationalism; and our commitment to democracy and liberty, to civic duty and the public space.

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

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

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 towers.

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

Faith in technocrats over politicians is not a trend from which Britain is exempt.

We must draw on our early roots and remind people why the Labour party was created and who it sought to represent. We have never been a sectional party promoting self-interest, but instead a force for engaging self-reliance and self-determination.

When I first came into parliament, there was, on average, a by-election every three months – due not to MPs bailing out, but because of the death rate.

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.

In Sheffield, we need support from the community and for the community. We need integration with no loss of heritage, and a clear appreciation of what is and is not acceptable.

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

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.

It is feasible for someone who comes from a privileged background to understand the privilege they have had and to use the formal political arena in a way that would disperse power and engage with people in their own lives.

I should have been a Trappist monk.

Strengthening our identity is one way of reinforcing people’s confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being.

At school, I was brought up on revolting food – sausages, sausages and Spam – but at home, I had the most wonderful sponge puddings, which I don’t indulge in very often now.

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 with a mere vote to cast.

The Home Office culture was one of being just above the problem, of hovering just out of reach of knowing what was going on on the ground, whether it was crime or immigration.

History teaches us that, whatever we say, racists will always distort the words of mainstream politicians to make themselves sound more respectable.

Nothing is more important for young people than enhancing their life chances, liberating their potential and encouraging their contribution to a globally competitive and modern economy.

The government wants to be able to attack extremism and hatred wherever it occurs.

I love the walk although my security team weren’t too sure to begin with but I was anxious to be able to lead a near normal life. Whilst walking I do get the chance to meet people and keep in touch.

How to strike the right balance between our privacy and our expectation that the state will protect us and facilitate our freedom is one of the most difficult challenges facing us all.

If surveillance infiltrates our homes and personal relationships, that is a gross breach of our human and civil rights.

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.

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

I said it’s impossible to have an amnesty without ID cards and a clean database, because you firstly don’t have any incentives for people to actually come up front and register, and make themselves available, and secondly you have no means of tracking them.

We have a media that presents every politician as being as bad as the next. There is no distinguishing between one good idea or another; no explanation of why constitutional change should be uppermost in the minds of the people I represent.

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

We need a government which, yes, guarantees basic standards in public services, but which also steps in to protect people’s wellbeing as they take part in our consumer democracy – particularly online.

In government, you are pressed by the security agencies. They come to you with very good information, and they say, ‘You need to do something.’ So you do need the breath of scepticism, not cynicism, breathing on them.

I have always been honest about my recollection of events.

I have built my reputation on honesty, I have sometimes been too honest.

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 strengthened to provide fairness for all children.

Balancing the common good with the freedom and liberty to exercise that individuality has been and remains a challenge for those committed to democracy while understanding that the polis ensures our participation and therefore our citizenship.

As a former home secretary, I have access to and knowledge of the workings of the system in a way that individuals unfamiliar with the courts can never hope to have.

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

Crucially, I’d like to thank Labour party members up and down the country for sticking with us. For their active citizenship, their willingness to engage in our democracy, and for being there at the cutting edge of making our democracy work.

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.

Simple numbers of people of a particular age tell us nothing about the condition of their health, the environment in which they live, and the support systems they can afford to pay for.

In today‘s world, learning has become the key to economic prosperity, social cohesion and personal fulfillment. We can no longer afford to educate the few to think, and the many to do.

Bishops and judges are some of the best politicians in the world. They know how to manipulate the political process.

Despite being in public life, I value my own privacy immensely and would be as concerned as anyone else if I thought my mobile phone records could be easily available to officials across government.

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

Throughout my political life, I’ve not been a stranger to controversy.

Being a Labour home secretary in the 21st century means fighting a constant battle against both extreme Right and Left.

As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets.

I did not in late November start the plethora of linking my private life with public events again.

It is certainly true that as we grow older, our need for healthcare also grows. It is also true that those who have lived their lives in the most difficult circumstances and experienced the most exhausting and challenging work places need healthcare the most.

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

I’m in favour of a sensible development of response units and their deployment in any circumstance where there may be a risk to the officers themselves or the neighbourhood they’re in. I’m not in favour of a blanket arming of the police.

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 same time.

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 stressing the dog.