It has come to something when a Labour home secretary threatens to quit Amnesty.
Blunkett has hard line reputation
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The human rights organisation regularly falls out with governments of all colours for its attacks on their alleged abuses of individual's freedoms.
But Mr Blunkett appears to attract more than his fair share, for a Labour minister.
His recent threat to quit the group and his claim that the leaders have "gone completely off the rails" in their attacks on his policies point to the wider problem facing Mr Blunkett.
It is the age old problem of just how hard line - on issues like terrorism and, more significantly at the moment , immigration and asylum - a Labour home secretary should be.
Like it or not, asylum in particular is a major political issue, and has the potential to cause real electoral damage to any government which looks less than draconian.
Far right
One of the greatest fears is that the liberal approach only plays into the hands of the far Right - and there have indeed been limited local successes by the British National Party in some areas.
And it is easier for the far Right to play to the fears surrounding asylum and immigration if they see them expressed regularly on newspaper front pages accusing the government of failing to tackle the problem.
Asylum is a major political issue
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That hands the home secretary a serious dilemma - one that other European governments have also been forced to address.
The choice appears to be between increasingly tough measures combined with rhetoric designed to prove that the problem is being solved.
Or to attempt to calm the worst fears of middle England while offering a more liberal approach to the issue.
The first risks the government adopting measures that are so illiberal they appear to be taken straight from the BNP handbook.
The second is often judged to be just too complicated and far more likely to fail.
Progressive agenda
The home secretary believes he has found the middle way between these two options.
He regularly claims that governments have to forge a bond of trust with the electorate on key law and order issues before they can pursue a more progressive agenda in other areas.
He is seldom criticised for failing to adopt the first part of that equation.
But some on the Labour benches question where the progressive agenda has been.
What this all amounts to is that David Blunkett, thanks in great part to his reputation and past record, may have a difficult time getting his latest legislation on asylum through the Commons.
His admission, seen by some as a threat, that the children of failed asylum seekers could be taken into care has angered many on the Labour benches and, they believe, confirmed their worst fears of his intentions.
It has not yet grown into anything like a real threat to the legislation.
But that could still come.
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