Downing Street Says » David Blunkett/Budd Report

Asked if David Blunkett had been cleared by the Budd Report, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that the Prime Minister was grateful to Sir Alan Budd for his detailed report.

Sir Alan Budd had made it clear that there was no cover up. David Blunkett took responsibility for any mistakes that were made and resigned last week. The report today brought this chapter to a close and enabled us to draw a line under the issue and move on.

The PMS also mentioned an interview that Sir Alan Budd had done in which he said he was not aware of any wrongdoing.

Asked if David Blunkett might therefore be reinstated to Cabinet at some point, the PMS said journalists might like to crystal ball gaze about reshuffles, but we did not. The fact was, David Blunkett resigned last week, and there was now a new Home Secretary who was getting on with the job.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was, and if he had now been exonerated, the PMS said that the Prime Minister’s position on the matter had not changed since last week, as he explained in his letter to David Blunkett.

Asked again if the Prime Minister thought David Blunkett had been exonerated, the PMS repeated that the Prime Minister had talked about David Blunkett’s integrity remaining intact, and that was still his view.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought a line could be draw under the issue, when the Budd Report appeared inconclusive, the PMS quoted from the report:

She continued that later on in the report Sir Alan Budd explained in his report that

Asked yet again if therefore Sir Alan Budd had exonerated David Blunkett in his report, the PMS repeated that the Prime Minister stood by David Blunkett and everything he had written in his letter to Mr Blunkett last week.

Asked if the Report had changed the Prime Minister’s view of David Blunkett, the PMS said it had not. David Blunkett had explained his reasons for resigning last week.

Asked if the Prime Minister now felt that David Blunkett made a mistake by resigning last week, the PMS replied that the former Home Secretary explained his reasons for resigning last week. He took responsibility for what had happened in his office.

Asked if the Prime Minister regretted not waiting for the outcome of the inquiry, the PMS said the former Home Secretary had explained his reasons for resigning to the Prime Minister.

5 Comments »

We posted this on an old thread but thought an update was relevant here.

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Blunkett is not just "fair game"! It is right and proper for the survival of democracy that anyone SO opposed to liberty and freedom should be TOTALLY destroyed. To hammer home the point after his "apparent" demise is important too. His totalitarian dogma must be snuffed out forever.

But let us remember: Blunkett did nothing without the complete approval of Blair. Blair represents totalitarian repression way beyond what George Orwell even dreamed. Blair (along with the insidious Bush – and the spineless ozzie Howard) are the greatest threats to world peace, individual freedom and the survival of humanity since Hitler. FAR FAR FAR worse that ANY alleged terrorist threat.
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Comment by JK5 — 22 Dec 2004 on 1:07 pm | Link
Agreed; at least now with Blunkett temporarily out of the picture we have one less thing to worry about. Still, I don’t doubt he’ll be back; it just amazes me how much of the public are taken in by spin and lies to the extent that they think Blunkett is (was) a good egg.
Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 24 Dec 2004 on 3:03 pm | Link
Define "one less thing to worry about".

The only thing that any of this does is increase the turbulence of the storm in the teacup; our only hope is that the storm brews long enough to prevent any legislation from realistically passing before election time.

By then, perhaps the Government will come to its senses and realise how little their policies really do to make us all safer. 25,000+ dead in Indonesia from natural, possibly even avoidable circumstances in many cases is a stark contrast from a few thousand dead in a wrecked building; it’s about time we started to put a bit of perspective on the word "tragedy", and start doing something to actually make our lives better – rather than just spending more money on expensive horse blinders.
Comment by Gregory Block — 28 Dec 2004 on 2:58 pm | Link
Blunkett was lying through his teeth, if not WHY did he repay the cost of the rail fare without hesitation, in other walks of life heads would have roled just for that misdemeanor, the government is run and ruled by people with devious backgrounds who survive under the cloak of respectability, it all starts from the top.
Comment by R.Mansell — 2 Jan 2005 on 7:56 pm | Link
The very word "blunkett" should be incorporated into the English Language (Like "Bobbitt" – cf. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Bobbitt) to mean "quintessential hypocrite" in the sense of:

"to blunkett" – v., to demand personal privacy after being caught red-handed in a crime while demanding abolition of all privacy for others. To be the quintessential hypocrite.

"a blunkett" – n., (doing …) the act of snivelling, squirming "owning up" AFTER being caught and at the same time trying to blame everyone else.

"blunkettly" – adv., (… arrogant) proclaiming high values and innocence while being blatently deceiptful, dishonest and hypocritical.
Comment by jk5 — 4 Jan 2005 on 3:51 am | Link

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» Tuesday, December 21, 2004

David Blunkett/Budd Report

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