I said it's impossible to have an amnesty without ID cards and a clean database, because you firstly don't have any incentives for people to actually come up front and register, and make themselves available, and secondly you have no means of tracking them.

As Home Secretary he was prepared to confront the judiciary and the police with proposals for civilian community patrols and changes to police officers' pay and working conditions. Blind since birth and coming from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts he rose to become Education and Employment Secretary Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election. Characteristically he was already at work on the morning of Saturday 7 May a matter of hours after his appointment.

Following the 2005 general election he was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions though he resigned from that role later that year following a large amount of media coverage relating to external business interests in the period when he did not hold a cabinet post. He was promoted to become Home Secretary following the 2001 general election a position he held until 2004 when he resigned following highly publicised matters related to his personal life. Blind since birth and coming from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts he rose to become Education and Employment Secretary Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in Tony Blair's Cabinet following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election.