Downing Street Says » David Blunkett

Asked if there was any new piece of information that Mr. Blunkett felt made his position untenable, where yesterday it had been tenable, the PMOS said that Mr. Blunkett would set out the reasons why he came to the decision he did. Mr. Blunkett had decided overnight that his position had become untenable, therefore, that was why he came to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister continued his full support for Mr. Blunkett in his position, and the judgements that the PMOS outlined yesterday remained, but Mr. Blunkett decided that because of the overall atmosphere, that the position had become untenable.

Asked if the Prime Minister still felt he had been given all the information from Mr. Blunkett in order to maintain his confidence, the PMOS replied that we had received all the information that was needed. Mr. Blunkett had reached a decision, and he would set out those reasons later.

Put to the PMOS that the morning’s events didn’t add up, with regards to timings of meetings at Downing Street, the PMOS explained that Mr. Blunkett first of all went to see the Prime Minister, and was aware that he had to do the Select Committee at Portcullis House. Therefore, having had one conversation with the Prime Minister, he then left to go to the Select Committee, with the intention of always returning to Downing Street to resume his conversation. It was then discovered that the Select Committee had been cancelled, so Mr. Blunkett simply returned to No10 earlier.

Put to the PMOS that the timings did not tally, the PMOS said they did, and explained again that Mr. Blunkett went first to No10, but because he was late for the Select Committee, they decided not to meet. Mr. Blunkett then returned to Downing Street.

Put to the PMOS that several journalists who were at Portcullis House were told that Mr. Blunkett would be half an hour late, the PMOS said Mr. Blunkett had gone first of all to No10.

Asked at what time, the PMOS said he did not have a precise time, but it was around the time that the Select Committee was meant to be meeting. Mr. Blunkett went to Downing Street because the Prime Minister was available to meet him, where they had a conversation. It was agreed that the conversation should be resumed after the Select Committee, however, when Mr. Blunkett arrived at Portcullis House and discovered the meeting had been cancelled, he returned to No10 earlier than planned to continue to conversation and to say he had resigned.

Asked what had caused Mr. Blunkett’s 180 degree turnaround, and there must have been something to cause him to change his mind, the PMOS said that Mr. Blunkett would set out his reasons later, and the PMOS did not want to pre-empt him, but the best way to sum up was Mr. Blunkett’s assessment of the overall atmostphere.

Asked if those reasons included the fact that there were a number of after-dinner speeches that were not declared, the PMOS replied in terms of the details, Mr. Blunkett would deal with them this afternoon.

Asked about any successors to Mr. Blunkett, and if there would be any announcements today, the PMOS said he thought we would be in a position to announce any replacement by the end of the day.

Asked if it was in Mr. Blunkett’s mind to resign, what was he doing contemplating attending a Select Committee, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister wanted to continue their conversation, but Mr. Blunkett wanted to do the right thing by the Committee.

Asked who initiated the first meeting, the PMOS said it was a matter of availability.

Put to the PMOS that it was implied that Mr. Blunkett initiated the meeting as he had a "fair mind" to resign, the PMOS said Mr. Blunkett would set out his own reasoning, and it was not fair to pre-empt that. What was fair to say was that Mr. Blunkett had made an assessment of the overall atmosphere, and as a result of that, he had reached the decision that the position was untenable.

Asked again why Mr. Blunkett had gone to the Select Committee, the PMOS reminded people that on the day that Peter Mandelson resigned for the second time, he did Northern Ireland questions, so there was a precedent.

Asked if the circumstances were different from Mr. Mandelson’s resignation the second time, the PMOS said: yes.

Asked if Mr. Blunkett had resigned when he left Downing Steret for the first time today, the PMOS replied that there was a continuing conversation, and the Prime Minister and David Blunkett agreed that they would meet again after the Select Committee. In terms of his decision, the Select Committee had been cancelled, therefore the second conversation took place earlier than planned.

Put to the PMOS that it was "utterly implausible", the PMOS pointed out again that the Prime Minister gave Mr. Blunkett his full support and had made that clear.

Asked if the Prime Minister was aware of the "Third Job" when they spoke on Monday, the PMOS said it was of historical significance, but he referred the journalist to what he had said yesterday.

Asked for more clarification about the after-dinner speeches, the PMOS said Mr. Blunkett would deal with these matters this afternoon.

Put to the PMOS that Mr. Blunkett was prepared to be punished for breaking the rules, but it appeared that the Prime Minister was not prepared to punish him, the PMOS replied that was not correct. The Prime Minister’s reasoning of yesterday remained the same today, which was that Mr. Blunkett accepted he had made a mistake, and the Prime Minister acknowledged that. Equally, the Prime Minister did not believe that the mistake justified dismissal. The PMOS said that was the position he had outlined for the past two days, and it remained the Prime Minister’s view. Mr. Blunkett believed that the overall position had become untenable, and he would explain the reasons later.

Asked why the Prime Minister had summoned Mr. Blunkett back, even thought the Select Committee had been cancelled, and also, what reasons did he give Mr. Blunkett for having full confidence in him, the PMOS replied that the reasons for the full confidence had already been outlined over the past two days. Those were that the Prime Minister believed that whilst a mistake had been made, in the overall perspective, that mistake did not justify dismissal. The Prime Minister thought Mr. Blunkett had been a very effective Home Secretary and Education Secretary, so he had a track record of which he should be very proud. That was why the Prime Minister held Mr. Blunkett in the high regard that he did, and continued to do so. However, Mr. Blunkett had reached the decision that he would not be able to continue to do the job in the way that he wanted to. The PMOS repeated that Mr. Blunkett would set out the position later this afternoon.

Put to the PMOS that was it not the case that the Head of the Civil Service and others had drawn a much more stringent line and had seemed to be asserting themselves over the Prime Minister, therefore what had that done to Mr. Blair’s authority, the PMOS replied that he rejected that analysis categorically. The correct position in these cases was that the Prime Minister sought the advice of the Cabinet Secretary, and that was what he did. The Cabinet Secretary clarified the Ministerial Code, and that was entirely proper. The Prime Minister reached a judgement about the significance of the mistake that Mr. Blunkett acknowledged he had made in his interpretation of the Ministerial Code. Mr. Blunkett had made an assessment about how tenable it was for him to continue in his position. Therefore, in terms of the system, it worked in the way it was meant to. Each person within that system, including the Prime Minister, made judgements that they were entitled to make.

Put to the PMOS that it appeared to be such that Mr. Blunkett was able to return to No10 because the Select Committee had been cancelled, when in actual fact, the Committee Chairman had come out of the Select Committee to tell journalists that the meeting had been cancelled, and there would be a statement from No10 and "you could work out what that meant", the PMOS said he did not know on what basis the Chairman had made the statement, because as people knew, during that period anyone who had contacted No10 were told we were not making a statement. The PMOS said that what might have happened was that Mr. Blunkett had gone to No10 because the Prime Minister was available, and that meant he was going to be late for the Select Committee. That message was relayed to Portcullis House, but it was for the Chairman of the Select Committee to talk about why he made that statement.

Put to the PMOS that the Prime Minister felt the resignation was both unnecessary and unjustified, and that after all, the media "witch hunt" had allowed who was in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, the PMOS replied, no, what he was saying was that Mr. Blunkett had decided to resign.

Put to the PMOS that No10 had lied regularly, and sited the case of Peter Mandelson, the PMOS said he rejected that allegation, and he stated that the facts were that Mr. Blunkett chose to resign.

Asked if the Prime Minister had urged Mr. Blunkett to stay on in his position, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister’s full support for Mr. Blunkett remained. The PMOS said he was not going to relay conversations. The PMOS said again that Mr. Blunkett chose to resign as he felt his position had become untenable and that he felt unable to remain in his position.

Put to the PMOS that yesterday, Mr. Blunkett had made it clear that he had done nothing wrong, he made no media appearances, and had relied on Downing Street alone to defend his position, and did the Prime Minister think that was an acceptable way for Mr. Blunkett to behave, the PMOS said we had no complaint about Mr. Blunkett yesterday.

Asked yet again about the sequence of events, the PMOS said that he could understand that from the sequence of events, people could get the wrong end of the stick. However, it was the wrong end of the stick, as Mr. Blunkett had reached the decision he had made, and there was a decision to meet again after the Select Committee, and that was the position.

Asked if it was Mr. Blunkett who asked to see the Prime Minister, the PMOS said there was an agreement that they should meet.

Put to the PMOS that that was an "odd" phrase, the PMOS replied that Mr. Blunkett would set out his reasoning.

Asked again if the Prime Minister had tried to talk Mr. Blunkett out of resigning, the PMOS said he was not going to go into details of private conversations. The Prime Minister did say he continued to give his full support to Mr. Blunkett in his position.

Asked if the Prime Minister did have full support for Mr. Blunkett, why did he not reject the resignation, the PMOS replied that Mr. Blunkett had decided his position was untenable. It was for Mr. Blunkett to express his view why he had come to that decision.

Put to the PMOS that most of the papers’ headlines seemed to say that the storm might be receeding, the PMOS said it was the Secretary of State to set out why he came to the conclusion he did.

Put to the PMOS that was it not true that it was the Prime Minister who asked to see Mr. Blunkett in light of what had happened recently, the PMOS said Mr. Blunkett had come to the conclusion he did. They met, and Mr. Blunkett told the Prime Minister his conclusion.

Asked if Mr. Blunkett told the Prime Minister about his conclusion at the first of today’s meetings, the PMOS said they agreed to meet again after the Select Committee, and then Mr. Blunkett insisted that he resigned after reaching the conclusion.

Asked if there were any other financial renumerations not yet in the public domain that the Prime Minister was aware of, and also what was the political atmosphere like in either Cabinet or the backbenches, the PMOS replied it was for Mr. Blunkett to give his explanation of his decision. With regards to the financial part of the question, again, it was for Mr. Blunkett to discuss.

Asked if the Prime Minister held out any possibility that Mr. Blunkett might return to Government, the PMOS replied he was not aware of anything.

Put to the PMOS that his account seemed to be "contorted", and was it "really credible", the PMOS said he had set out the reasons as coolly and objectively as possible over the past few days. The Prime Minister, whilst he believed a mistake had been made, felt it was not sufficient to justify Mr. Blunkett losing his job. Equally, the Secretary of State had reached his own conclusions, which were not only about the atmosphere today, but also about his ability to do his job. Mr. Blunkett would say later, that it was this that made him decide, in both the interests of both the Prime Minister and the Government that it was time for him to go.

Asked if Mr. Blunkett was still a Minister when he went to the Select Committee meeting, and also had he met the Chief Whip either last night, or today, the PMOS he was not aware that Mr. Blunkett had seen the Chief Whip. With regards to the first part of the question, the PMOS said that until he had announced it at 1100, he was still a Minister at the time of the Committee meeting! The PMOS said there was a continuing conversation, and he was not going to relay the precise details.

Put to the PMOS that if Mr. Blunkett had made up his mind to resign, but no-one had told the Select Committee that he was not going to attend, then was someone doing something that would make Mr. Blunkett think twice, the PMOS replied the position was that this had been a very difficult period for Mr. Blunkett, and everyone recognised that. People also recognised that if someone was going to resign, and their position was untenable, then it was best to make sure that it was not just an immediate reaction to immediate events, but rather, was a considered judgment. Therefore, what Mr. Blunkett was going to do at the Select Committee was to reflect further on what the Prime Minister had said, and his assessment. Whilst the media might want snap judgments, people should recognise that in this kind of difficult situation, a prolonged conversation was sometimes the best way to reach the correct judgement, rather than rushing to a conclusion because of a deadline of a Select Committee.

2 Comments »

I just watched the News at 6 and discovered that, again, Mr Blunkett was "confused" and that is why he made the mistake, forcing him to resign.

Well I’m really grateful that he has resigned ‘cos having a cabinet member who so often becomes so easily confused is horribly scary.

Now if we could weed out the cabinet members who have poor judgement and those who are entirely self seeking we might make some progress towards a better government 😉
Comment by Roger Huffadine — 2 Nov 2005 on 6:31 pm | Link
If we got rid of all those, there would be none left !
Another thing that was on the news was an old clip of Blair saying something about "the people are our bosses and we will not forget that…" doesnt seem to follow his ‘i respect your view, but im right’ outlook he has now !
Comment by tony — 2 Nov 2005 on 10:59 pm | Link

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» Wednesday, November 2, 2005

David Blunkett

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