BLUNKETT INSISTS: I WAS RIGHT TO DOWNGRADE IT

Former home secretary David Blunkett has launched an outspoken attack
on Gordon Brown's plans for a tougher reclassification of cannabis
saying it risks wasting police time on pursuing casual users of the drug.

"I don't want the children of my Cabinet colleagues or the shadow
Cabinet to find that they are treated differently from the way their
parents were at university," he said.

The Prime Minister is set to back a return of cannabis to class B,
amid concerns that downgrading it to class C caused confusion about
its legality and fears about the consequences of its excessive use
among young people.

Mr Blunkett, who resigned in 2005, defended his downgrading of the
drug saying: "There has been a marked fall in cannabis use, which is
the result of people being better informed. There has also been the
emergence of skunk which is twice as potent as the historic 'weed' so
it would be sensible if a reclassification upwards applied to that,
which is a very different drug.

"I don't want the police to have to chase those who are foolish
enough to break the law by using small amounts of cannabis. I want
them to focus on the pushers and the traffickers.

"I understand the politics of sending signals, but I hope we don't
throw the baby out with the bath water. The police said my changes
would give them the freedom to target class A drugs. I would like
them to continue doing that."

Mr Blunkett added a warning about the Government's flagging momentum,
saying: "We don't need to be afraid of ideas and we do need to be
bold. The Cabinet needs to bed down a bit and gain in self-confidence
and the big challenge now is not only to be addressing issues a
government can't duck, but to think boldly and radically about the
issues of the next 10 years."

Lack of strategic direction has been a criticism of Mr Brown
privately voiced by several former Blairite ministers.

After publishing a pamphlet on social mobility this week, Mr Blunkett
said: "I'm looking for a refreshed and renewed campaign for Labour
here. The Tories and Lib-Dems have been seeking to broaden their
appeal by moving onto our territory. We have to get out of an era of
politics where having ideas about the future is seen as dangerous."

But he ruled out an attempted ministerial comeback. "I'm not looking
for that," he said. "Now I have time to think about ideas without
threatening anyone. I'm politically liberated."

Speaking of the "crippling disadvantage" afflicting the poorest
families, Mr Blunkett was critical of allowing projects such as Sure
Start to dwindle into child-care schemes to allow women to work. "I'm
critical that there is a danger of it being watered down," he said.

The former Cabinet minister conceded that families fleeing state
schools still pose a problem for Labour's claim to be enhancing
social mobility. "It is an issue, especially in London and the
South-East," he said. "The challenge is to provide an ethos that is
attractive to parents in terms of behaviour, respect and the
nonacademic aspects of education as well as the exam results. We need
to face it. If 20 per cent of children in inner London go to private
schools you can't fail to address it."

Asked if he would insist that his son William by the publisher
Kimberly Quinn would be educated in the state sector, Mr Blunkett
refused to comment, saying: "I shan't discuss my son. It's private.
But my other three children have been educated in the comprehensive schools."

He is understood to have regular contact with the child despite a
bitter split from Mrs Quinn. He added: "I am very happy. My quality
of life is better than for a long time and my emotional and physical
health reflects that."

Asked if he had recovered from what he has referred to as the
"terrible trauma" of his doomed relationship, he said simply, "Yes."