''The Blunkett Tapes: My life in the bear pit'' is a book version of the audio
diaries of the British MP
David Blunkett. The diary details his time as a
cabinet minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...
in the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
government from 1997 to 2004.
The book was serialised in ''
The Guardian'' from October 2006, and was published on 16 October 2006 by
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
. The diaries were also the subject of two episodes of the
Channel 4 ''
Dispatches'' documentary in October 2006, and were read on
BBC Radio 4 as book of the week in October 2006.
Blunkett is reported to have received £1m from his book, despite various criticisms made of it.
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
in particular has repeatedly lampooned the book by suggesting humorous alternative uses for the mountains of unsold copies of the weighty tome and printing "extracts" mocking the book as self-pitying.
Prison Riots
As
Home Secretary during the
Lincoln Prison riots in 2002, Blunkett accused in his diaries the then Head of
Prison Service
His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
,
Martin Narey "of dithering over the riots"
Narey has a different version of events. During a telephone conversation in October 2002 he told Blunkett he would not rush into ordering staff back into jail if it put lives at risk.
Narey is quoted in ''
The Times'': "Blunkett shrieked at me that he didn't care about lives, told me to call in the Army and 'machine-gun' the prisoners and - still shrieking - again ordered me to take the prison back immediately.
"I refused. David hung up."
Narey also says he wrote up the details of the telephone conversation he took in a restaurant on the Isle of Wight on the evening of the riot and then reported it to senior Civil Servants as he was "disturbed" by it.
Narey claims that the Blunkett's reaction compared unfavourably with his Conservative and Labour predecessors and his successor secretaries, having seen four very closely —
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...
,
Jack Straw, Blunkett and
Charles Clarke. "I felt David’s response to a crisis was the least competent of those that I saw,” he said.
Narey added: “It is important that officials feel confident in being able to speak the truth to power. Far too often in my experience, David terrified political advisers and those very close to him.”
External links
Telling tales out of cabinetA serving MP and former minister reviews the accuracy of the Blunkett tapes
Amazon Listing for The Blunkett TapesBBC News Article
Dispatches (TV programme)
Political autobiographies
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