In the spotlight: David Blunkett: ThePost.ie


TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2005/11/06 > In the spotlight: David Blunkett

In the spotlight: David Blunkett
Sunday, November 06, 2005 -
“I am guilty of a mistake, and I'm paying the price for it.”

The scandal-prone cabinet minister David Blunkett stepped down from his post as Work and Pensions Secretary last Wednesday, admitting that he had been wrong not to have consulted an advisory committee over his business dealings.

He said he wanted to protect the British government from being distracted by allegations concerning his business affairs.

It is the second time in a year that Blunkett has been forced to resign from the cabinet: the former minister was embroiled in controversy last year after it was established that his private office had helped to ‘fast-track' a visa application for his former partner's nanny to stay in Britain.

Colleagues rallied around Blunkett this week.

“He goes, in my view, with no stain of impropriety against him whatsoever,” said prime minister Tony Blair.

However, the resignation of Blunkett was described as a “serious blow to Blair'‘ by the New York Times.

“It also raises questions about having rushed a remarkable politician, who overcame blindness and a poor childhood, back into government so quickly,” the publication noted, “particularly since Blair did the same thing with another close friend, Peter Mandelson, who was also forced out of government twice.”

“Having made the same mistake twice doesn't do much for your credibility,” said John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University in Scotland.

Many pundits have deemed it unlikely that Blunkett will make it back into frontline politics, but the BBC, at least, remains optimistic.

“Mr Blunkett has overcome adversity before, and few would bet that his extraordinary story is over yet.”

By Nadine O’Regan

RACE IS ON IN DUBLIN CENTRAL

The controversy rumbles on over who will partner Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in his Dublin Central constituency in the next election.

Sinn Féin insists it has made no decision on whether it will select Mary Lou McDonald for Dublin Central, but speculation about her running against the Taoiseach is concentrating minds at Fianna Fáil's head office.

Down the road at Paddy Power, minds are likewise concentrated.

The bookmaker is offering odds of 13/8 on Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick contesting the second Fianna Fáil seat in Dublin Central after her father, Dr Dermot Fitzpatrick, hangs up his boots.

The Taoiseach's own favourite, Cyprian Brady, is in second place at 2/1,while the outsider, Councillor Deirdre Heney, is at 5/2.

Fitzpatrick senior's established presence in the constituency would support his daughter's campaign, according to the bookies.

Being female would also go in her favour, especially if she is running against Mary Lou.

The odds may come as a surprise to political pundits who viewed Brady, a brother of the erstwhile Dublin mayor Royston, as the favourite.

Royston failed in his bid for election to the European Parliament and later became embroiled in an embarrassing feud over election expenses with party headquarters.

But Cyprian, who manages the Taoiseach's office at St Luke's in Drumcondra, is considered too closely associated with Ahern to develop his own identity.

“Cyprian is always running around after [the Taoiseach] and is seen as not a strong candidate in his own right,” say the bookies.

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

It looks like a united Ireland could be closer than any of us imagined, going on the basis of recent press releases from the Democrat Unionist Party (DUP).

For years, DUP leader ‘Papa Doc' Paisley has described the 26 counties as a “foreign country'‘ and has denounced the “interference'' of taoisigh in the “internal'' matters of the North.

Now, on the back of the DUP's opposition to speaking rights for Northern MPs in the Dáil (an unusual position considering it should really not be bothered about what happens in Dublin), the party has waded into the debate about the republic's economy.

North Antrim DUP Assembly member Mervyn Storey had obviously been reading the southern press when he issued the following comments last Tuesday: “Suggestions that Sinn Féin favours the introduction of a 50 per cent tax rate for top earners in the Irish Republic shows that it doesn't really care about the economy or taxpayers.”

Intriguing story, Mr Storey. Please go on.

“Whilst Sinn Féin tries its best to be the friend of the businessman, the truth is entirely different. This latest revelation shows us exactly what sort of a taxation system Sinn Féin would institute if they ever got their hands on such powers.”

Last Post eagerly awaits the DUP's analysis of the €34 billion transport plan. Surely it's only a matter of time.

TIGHT SECURITY IN WASHINGTON

Whatever about having to remove your shoes in Dublin Airport, American airport security tops the bill when it comes to vexatious - nay - downright abstruse requests.

A fellow known to the Last Post was travelling to Washington recently and was apprehended at immigration for having the (not uncommon) name of Joseph Murphy.

US immigration officials were on the lookout for a dangerous criminal going by the name of Joseph Murphy, having received information that he was trying to gain entry to the US.

Instructions were clear, our friend was told. No matter what his appearance, if he had the name Joseph Murphy he had to be apprehended and interviewed by a senior official.

Apparently the ‘undesirable' is a master of disguise, so the man at ground level was not authorised to let anyone with that name pass.

It took a senior member of security personnel at Washington to give the okay to Murphy's entry to America.

After hours of interrogation (well, maybe not hours), five-year-old Joey Murphy, travelling with his mother and sister, was able to convince US officials he was an innocent member of the public and not, in fact, a dangerous criminal disguised as a kindergarten kid. He was allowed to continue on his holiday - this time.

PROPERTY PRICES ON THE DOUBLE

A couple of US financial hotshots were being driven from Dublin Airport to the city centre recently by a couple of equally hotshot representatives of an Irish financial institution.

They began talking house prices, comparing the cost of shacks in Washington and Dublin. The Americans were more than startled at house prices in Dublin and, as they sat in traffic, one of the Irish pointed at a house in Drumcondra.

“How much would you expect to pay for that?” he asked the Americans.

“Well, now, I guess maybe $500,000?”

“Try nearer €1 million.”

The Americans were either impressed or stunned at the cost of so relatively modest a semi-detached residence.

Silent for a moment, one said: “What I can't figure is why a guy would want to paint one half of his house a different colour. . .”

WEIRD SCENES INSIDE MAYNOOTH

Following the laicisation of Mgr Micheál Ledwith, a former Ferns priest who stood down as president of the national seminary at Maynooth over sex abuse claims, it's good to know that the seminary is getting back on track.

After disciplining five of the remaining students for having the temerity to kneel at Communion, the seminary is now organising creative liturgy for the few who remain.

According to the latest edition of the Brandsma Review magazine, college officials are fostering “outlandish and bizarre practices'‘ such as piling “bales of hay, branches blown off trees, table-cloths and computer keyboards'‘ in the middle of the chapel to forma “sacred space'‘ at a Mass for the dedication of studies.

“By contrast,” says the review, “only a desperate rearguard action by senior classmen preserved the right of seminarians to wear cassock and surplice at Sunday Mass.”

THE PROOF IS IN THE SALES

Sex might indeed sell, but figures from Marks & Spencer suggest that chocolate sells more.

Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, told a conference in Belfast last week that sales of its chocolate pudding had soared since the introduction of the ‘This is not just food, this is Marks & Spencer food' ads that show its pudding oozing a rich, sumptuously thick, dark chocolate sauce.

Sales of the dessert have risen from stg£18,000 per week prior to the ads being launched to stg£500,000 per week.

While we haven't been able to double blind test the dessert ourselves, the figures indicate the proof of the pudding is in the advertising.

Post mortem: A better, brighter future

By Garvan Grant

There was much rejoicing throughout the land last week, as the government announced its plans to change our lives forever and to transform Ireland into a world superpower by 2015.

The cynics and the sceptics were finally and truly humiliated when the government showed off its 10-year, €34 billion transport plan.

The ambitious plan, the central aim of which is to improve the country's road and rail network, is the solution to all of Ireland's problems and demonstrates what a super, super government this really is.

Named after a famous nightclub in Bolton, ‘Transport 21' is set to revolutionise the way people live in this country in just under ten years' time.

Already, governments all over the world are requesting copies of the plan, so that they too can be as great as Ireland is going to be in 2015.

The proposals include new motorways, new tunnels, new Luas projects and 20 new double-decker buses.

Moreover, every person over the age of 18 living in Ireland will be given their choice of a bicycle, a car or their own Luas light rail system – or the equivalent in cash. This will be accompanied by a free CD of well-known Christmas carols.

And, although it is still just a bunch of proposals, it is as if everything in the plan has already been achieved on time and within budget. People stuck in traffic for hours last week were punching the air with delight when they heard the news.

The reaction was the same from people standing in the rain at bus queues all over the country: “Go on the government! We knew they'd come through for us.”

One of the most ambitious parts of the plan is to build a whole new city under St Stephen's Green. This will have an excellent transport system, superb hospitals without waiting lists or queues, a massive sports stadium, six branches of Harvey Nichols, three airports and two suns.

Unemployment and crime will be non-existent, education will be free and really good, and there will be loads of wine bars. It is hoped that everybody will eventually be able to move into this new supercity in the next 20 years.

Some critics have said that the government's record on plans like this has left something to be desired. They cite in their arguments the massive budget overruns and delays with the Luas, the Port Tunnel, the M50 and other motorway proposals.

But what these critics conveniently forget is that this plan is different, as it will be done on time and within budget. Indeed, the government has said as much.

It was nice to see four of our greatest politicians up there on Tuesday taking credit for coming up with such an innovative idea as a new transport plan.

Bertie Ahern managed to think about something other than the only major problem on his mind at the moment as Taoiseach: the continuing decline at Manchester United.

The Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, made sure that we all knew that the billions of euro to fund the plan were coming directly from him. He really is a generous bloke.

Then, there was Tanaiste Mary Harney, who was no doubt glad to forget about the ongoing crisis in the health service and concentrate on winning glory for the most important infrastructure plan the universe has ever seen.

The brains behind the plan was also there. The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, who was also the brains behind the Monica Leech PR saga and the e-voting machines fiasco, had the confident air of a man who knew this plan was going to work, even if lots of other ones hadn't.

The only heartbreaking thing was that these four super politicians probably won't be around in 2015 to take all the credit when this plan is realised on time and within budget. Politics is surely a cruel game.