gone

so blunkett has gone.
another minister from new labour has succumbed to the joys of capitalism.
funny thing is blunkett became so unlikeable during his stint as home secretary where he mixed the sensible and the right wing with no sense of irony.
as work and pension secretary he was going to be playing a major role in blair's reform policy.
but now he isn't.

the first time he had to resign it was because he let his personal life become far too public.
this second time it was partly because he, again, let his personal life become too public and because he was found to be ignoring the rules that had been set out for ministers.
yes we all know that 1] it is voluntary and 2] he could ignore the advice that was given - but bearing in mind all the claims that there would be no sleaze with new labour, remembering how zero tolerance he was over crime you would have thought he would have made sure he was within the rules at all times.
this is not much to ask the people who are telling us how to live our lives.

his two major "crimes" seem to have been
1] a public relations problem - he was seeing a young bird (good for him - you go for it david!) this was being reported that he was losing control of himself, spending his nights out and about flirting. again good for him, politicians should have a life and they should live it.
but being new labour he was being portrayed as someone who had been turned by the bright lights of london and incapable of doing his job.
2] the fact he had taken on a directorship that was going to earn him money via shares, this was being done in order for him to leave a trust fund for his kids. he hadn't bothered to check with the various ethics committees that members of parliament have before he took the post. for all his talk about it being voluntary or unclear a man in his position should check and then double check to be sure.

the funny part of it was that it was a dna testing company. you have to laugh.
it's not like he didn't have experience of the services being offered!

oddly there have been two comments in the papers about it.
one from deborah orr in the independent (no point in posting the link you have to pay for it.... why bother even putting it there)who says it is a bit of a disaster him not being still in cabinet as he was a bulwark against some of tony's more outrageous pensions and back to work schemes.
and then in the evening standard yasmin alibhai-brown has a piece that says she felt his exit was dignified and was almost sorry to see him go, and that this was the result of a witch hunt. nothing to do with politics just an attack on a personality. but before she finished she had to have a dig at him, by pretty much saying he had a grope of her.

ah david we will miss you....
for about 4 months.