“If you have a sense of irony or humour, you're usually cut down, as you're usually distorted or misinterpreted. So it does lead to us being slightly more dour and staid and predictable than would otherwise be the case, which I personally find quite frustrating - because if you don't laugh occasionally in my job, you cry most of the time.”

British politician

David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, is a British politician and Labour Party figure who served in Parliament from 1987 to 2015. He was Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2001, Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004, and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2005. He represented Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough in the House of Commons for nearly three decades, then was made a life peer in 2015 and moved to the House of Lords. His public career is closely tied to domestic policy, especially education, policing, and welfare.