Politics

Politicians and journalists are in a conspiracy against the public

4 December 2004

In opposition, David Blunkett was an eager defender of the doctrine that lay behind the Northcote Trevelyan reforms, angrily denouncing the Conservative government for what he called its ‘creeping politicisation of the Civil Service’. In government he has taken the opposite attitude. Blunkett has been a contemptuous opponent of those, like the former Cabinet secretary Lord Wilson, who stood up for the integrity of officials. The Home Secretary was the leading actor in the astonishing Cabinet meeting on 7 March 2002, when for the first time a Cabinet secretary came under open attack from ministers. ‘There has been talk of a Bill to protect civil servants from ministers,’ thundered Blunkett, as Lord Wilson took notes. ‘What we need is a Bill to protect ministers from civil servants.’

Blunkett himself seems not to comprehend the distinction between his public role of Home Secretary and his private interest. He repeatedly insisted that his relationship with Kimberly Quinn was a private matter, yet civil servants have been involved at every stage. Blunkett’s chief press officer flew to Italy to help him out when news of the affair broke; his principal private secretary seems to have been on hand when relations with Kimberly Quinn were broken off; and another civil servant was reportedly present to help the Home Secretary examine the visa application from Mrs Quinn’s nanny. We are told not to make too much of Mrs Quinn’s journeys by ministerial car. Perhaps not, but I know of a case when an army officer was severely disciplined after using his official car to give his elderly father a lift to hospital. An army officer would be instantly cashiered for abusing his spouse’s allowance, an offence Blunkett admits. The same applies in the Metropolitan Police, which Blunkett controls.

And yet there is only one response, and one answer, to this tragedy: compassion. David Blunkett, as he fights for his rights as a father, and unfaithful Kimberly Quinn are victims of the ambiguities of our time. They will never find their salvation in the murk of Westminster. Only the eternal truths will save them: family, self-knowledge, forgiveness and — above all — Christian love.