My Sheffield The Rt Hon the Lord Blunkett (BA Politics 1972, Hon LittD 2016) is Professor of Politics in Practice at the University of Sheffield. A former Labour MP, he served as Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary, and Work and Pensions Secretary. He reflects on his time as a student and subsequent career. What inspired you to study and work in politics? I was inspired to both learn about and participate in politics by my own upbringing. My grandfather read to me from what was then the Daily Herald (a left-wing daily newspaper somewhat more political than the Daily Mirror), a history teacher who taught me to learn about the past but not to live in it and, of course, the experience of my father’s premature death in a works accident and the struggle that my mother had to survive. How does the University compare now to when you started here as a mature student in 1969? Most obviously, the number of students, and the range of backgrounds from which they come, has changed dramatically. Both in terms of ‘class’ – in the sense that the massive improvement in the education system has allowed many more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to make it into university – but also ethnically and in terms of gender. The diversity of background, the ratio of men to women and the range of courses on offer have all been transformed. What memories stand out from your time here? My memories are bound into the circumstances in which I found myself; not least because of the struggle I’d had through night school and day release to get to university. I spent more time ensuring that I did not waste the three years than might otherwise have been the case. In simple terms, I worked damned hard, had less of a social life and therefore the enjoyable side of university life, and was far too serious. In addition, my political activity had led me to stand for Sheffield City Council so I was both practising politics and learning about theory and practice at the same time. I had to do it that way, and I have never regretted it, but it was a shame that I wasn’t able to mix a more balanced social life with hard work, and a bit more youth with my growing maturity. 16 YOUR UNIVERSITY | 2017/2018
What advice would you like to give to your first-year self? Make the most of university in every possible way – culturally, socially and personally. But always remember that this is a privilege, so make the most of the academic opportunity to read, to debate, to think and to contribute. That makes for a rounded human being who will look back and think, “That was a phenomenal time but I grew up, and I am able to make a better contribution to my own life and to the well-being of others because of it.” Why is it important for alumni to continue a connection with the University after graduation? I think it’s very important for alumni both to give something back, for the privilege and support received, and to be able to play a part not just in helping a new generation but also in the work of the University as a whole. Where is your favourite place in Sheffield? I would like to say the Hillsborough football stadium, where I have experienced so many good and so many disappointing times – but just at the moment the disappointments override the hopes! So, on a day-to-day basis, the wonderful woodland that makes Sheffield the place it is – to walk, to hear birdsong, to relax and to think and still be in Britain’s fourth-largest city. What have been the highlights of your career so far? Walking into the Department for Education and Employment on 2 May 1997 and to be able to start the process of transforming education from early years through to universities and skills, to see young people getting a job for the first time and to contribute more widely to Cabinet discussion, has to be the highlight of my public life – although leading the City of Sheffield for seven years is a very close second! n