“I can hear people smile”
As a young adult in the 1980s and 1990s I gradually became more politically informed with occasional forays into BBC’s Question Time. In doing so, I learnt of the rise of politician David Blunkett, a high-profile figure in the Labour government following the 1997 general election.
He served in various roles in the Labour cabinet throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. What is also impressive is that he has achieved so much in his career despite being born blind. I was therefore delighted to interview him, keen to learn more about David’s background, his journey to becoming one of the most powerful politicians in Britain, and how his blindness has impacted on his career.
In the early summer, I travelled down from Scotland to Westminster. Having negotiated the security, I was whisked through the labyrinth of the House of Lords to the media and television room, where David was waiting for me with his guide dog Barley.
David was born in Jessop Hospital for Women, Sheffield in 1947 and was raised in a cramped council house by his mother and father, alongside his maternal grandfather and half-sister. His parents started to have concerns about his vision when he was about three months as he was moving to voices but not visual stimulants. They did not take David to hospital until he was around a year-old.
“In those days, as brutal as it sounds, when there was a major problem, they started by thinking that you would need to have your eyes removed. Thank goodness they decided not to.” It was eventually established that he had bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia.
There was no support for integrated education at the time. Therefore, when David was aged four, his parents were told that he would have to board at the Manchester Road School for the Blind in Sheffield. He clearly remembers his first experience there years later.
“It was early Sunday evening, around teatime. I walked through the gates, and they were pretty brutal about parents leaving their child. My mother said she stood and watched me for ages. Endearingly there was a child crying which probably saved me, because by comforting them I was comforting myself.”
He is not sure how much emotional damage he experienced as a result of going to boarding school. “I often think that I didn’t get over those early years, being separated and experiencing the brutality. It wasn’t brutal in the physical beating sense, although they did engage in corporal punishment. It was much more the psychological aspect of being separated. The young ladies who were only aged 16 or 17, and called house mothers, did their best. But they couldn’t be a substitute for your mum.”
The corporal punishment at school took the form of a cane on the hands. Since David used his fingers to read Braille, he likened being caned on the hand to having salt thrown into his eyes. “The head of the school was a Quaker, and it was completely inimical to me that he should have taken to using the cane. The words ‘this hurts me more than it hurts you’ resonate with me to this day because it clearly didn’t. It was for really petty things. I think that’s rested with me and when I come across unfairness, I want to do something about it.”
Whilst at school, David and his classmates took part in normal childhood activities; climbing trees, riding bikes, playing cricket and football. I wondered how David survived intact. “It was good because it provided us with resilience and what we might call in Yorkshire ‘grit’. It helped us to prepare for life and for survival against the odds. It was pretty dangerous thinking back and we could have done ourselves severe damage. We did do damage. I mean we spent a lot of time in the dedicated children’s hospital in Sheffield with cuts and bruises and broken things.”
David had a close relationship with his father. When he was home from school, they would often go for long walks in the hills and dales of the Derbyshire countryside, where his father instilled in David an interest in current affairs, geography, and would often quiz him. He also developed David’s love of football taking him to matches at Sheffield Wednesday.
“In those days, it was all standing stadia, so my dad sat me on the wall behind the goal and put his arms on each side of me. I could hear the goalkeeper swearing and could hear the kick of the ball. I could feel the atmosphere from the Kop behind me. I got the taste for it and got it in the blood.”
Tragedy struck when David was twelve, shortly before he was due to move away to secondary education. His father was working long shifts as a foreman at the gas works operating the water gas plant. In December 1959, he fell into a giant vat of boiling water. He died a month later in the Royal Infirmary. It took two years and a battle in court to win compensation for the accident and during that time they experienced real poverty. This experience inspired in David a desire to give people ladders out of poverty – a hand up rather than a handout.
Another pivotal moment in David’s childhood happened two years later when his grandfather was admitted to the geriatric ward at the Northern General Hospital. David visited his grandfather during the holidays and found it a heart-breaking experience. The environment was depressing with poor staffing levels, many of whom had no training. His grandad subsequently died falling down some steps on the ward.
The deaths of both his father and grandfather and the injustices involved left David with an angry determination to change the world and a desire to see things improve – both motivating factors for him becoming interested in politics.
“The trauma part is quite difficult, because whilst it’s a driving force for change and you want to ensure nobody has to go through that, it can also be a distortion of your own life and thinking. In some ways, I think it made me a more serious young man.”
In 1963, at the age of 16, David joined the Labour Party and realised that to progress in life he would need to sit exams. “I took two O levels per year for three years. For English we had a part-time teacher, Margaret Waddington. The more she realised we weren’t thick, the more enthusiastic she became.” David then went on to obtain A-levels in law, economics and economic history which enabled him to go to Sheffield University for a degree in political theory and institutions.
In 1970, whilst still a student, he became the youngest ever councillor on Sheffield City Council (and in Britian) at the age of twenty-two, becoming its leader in 1980. In the 1987 General Election, he was elected as MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, serving for almost three decades before standing down in 2015. Throughout his time as both a councillor and MP he has had to battle for extra equipment to be able to compete on equal terms.
“I was invited to give evidence in the House of Commons. I recalled back in 1987 – people thought, ‘Why can’t he just manage? He’ll be alright, he’ll just tick along.’ Having the experience in local government and being belligerent, I was determined to make my mark. I didn’t come here just to go through the voting lobby. I came in to make a difference. I said, ‘Look, I can’t work on equal terms without the equipment.’ It was at the beginning of the computerised brailing system and braille transcription. I needed readers for obvious reasons, because in those days it was letters and faxes. I wanted to be as good as anybody else at responding to my constituents. So, I battled it out.”
In the end, David was provided with the package that enabled him to conduct his work effectively. “If I’d bombed, then people behind me, not just those who couldn’t see, but with different challenges, would have found it much, much more difficult. So, I was fighting a battle for myself, but also fighting for a cause.”
David had to work harder than the average MP in terms of preparation and reading to be on top of the details. This meant that he did not socialise often and people thought he was aloof. Despite this, he did interact with other MPs and built friendships which still exist. “Friendship is one of the greatest gifts anybody can offer someone else. You just don’t know when you might need it and what a difference it makes to all kinds of wellbeing.”
I wondered if David’s achievements as a high-profile politician had increased awareness and changed perceptions of people with disabilities. “I used to think I was getting a message to the public, to parents who have a disabled child or someone who becomes disabled, but all the stats show that we’ve still got a massive problem in persuading others not to put those mind-forged manacles around us.”
During David’s time as an MP, he was Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1997–2001), Home Secretary (2001–2004) and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2005). He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2015. I asked what political success he is most proud of. The subsidised local transport policy in South Yorkshire which ran from 1974 to 1986. The Sure Start programme, a flagship Labour policy launched in 1999 which was aimed to improve the health, education, and social development of young children in disadvantaged areas.
He continued by describing his work at the Home Office. “The thing I’m probably proudest of was squaring the circle on security and civil liberties after the attack on the World Trade Centre, September 11th, because that just came out of the blue.”
I was interested to know David’s thoughts about the 1997 landslide Labour election victory and being at the heart of the government at this momentous point in history. “It was exhilarating. Things weren’t as bad financially as they are today and the world wasn’t as crazy. We didn’t have Donald Trump and trade wars. We had a war in Europe, but we immediately had a commitment between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton to do something about it. It’s very different now to Gaza and Ukraine. Both terrible scars on the international scene. So, things are much more difficult for this government. We had a slightly bigger majority, but we also had a clear focus and delivery commitment. Since the beginning of 2025, I’m seeing my own government get their grip on the global scene. I’m hoping they can get their act together domestically.”
Throughout his life, David has had a series of guide dogs. He sees the benefits of a guide dog as putting him on equal terms with other people. “The mobility side is a no-brainer, but the dignity and independence should not be underestimated.”
When he lost his previous dog, he encountered a learning curve. “I found obstacles I never knew existed. People’s attitude changed to me because they could see that I needed a bit of help. It made me think about myself, about my mobility, and about the importance of Guide Dogs for the Blind reducing the massive waiting time for dogs that they created by not breeding and training during Covid-19. I think the new chief executive would accept that was a major mistake.”
A dog acts as an icebreaker. “I should have copped on to this much earlier in life. If I had a dog slightly earlier than I did, which was 22 years old, I wonder how many wonderful personal relationships I might have developed. People can talk to you about the dog even if they hate your politics. From talking about the dog, you can then ask about them.”
I continued by asking what David would say to his 17-year-old self. “I’d say you’re going to have to stay pig headed because you’re never going to break through if you don’t. But could you just have a little more thought about your impact on other people? Because you might win more friends and influence if you’re just a bit more sensitive to how others feel rather than how you feel.”
Lastly, I asked what he believed the meaning of life to be. “I think it’s trying to square the circle of enjoying the moment and changing the lives of others for the better.”
As I made way across London, I reflected on our discussion. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you have to admire David’s determination and tenacity to succeed despite his disability. There is also an altruism that underlies his political work. It is clear that he is absolutely dedicated to making the lives of the people he serves better, which lies at the heart of everything he does.
