Blunkett feels immigration heat

Friday, 2 April 2004 12:00 AM

Home Secretary David Blunkett is coming under pressure over his involvement in the forged documents scandal that led to the resignation of immigration minister Beverly Hughes yesterday.

Calls for an independent inquiry into the affair are now coming from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.

Ms Hughes' resignation was a blow to Mr Blunkett, who had insisted she would stay the previous day.

The Home Secretary described her resignation as "the worst personal day" of his career, adding that he still has "absolute confidence" in Ms Hughes. He went on to say she was a "highly-competent, able, honest" minister and that her departure came as a "personal blow" to him

At his monthly press conference Tony Blair attempted to minimise damage by asking for people to wait for the findings of an internal inquiry.

But the opposition parties were undeterred.

Conservative spokesman David Cameron said last night that it is "impossible" for a Home Office official to sit in judgement on his boss.

"One of the things this inquiry has got to look at is what did the Home Secretary know?," he said to the BBC.

"Was he ever told about this? If he wasn't told about this why not?

"Can we expect a Home Office official to sit in judgement over the Home Secretary? It is literally a nonsense."

Liberal Democrat spokesman Mark Oaten added his voice saying: "The heat is now going to turn on the Home Secretary."

Ms Hughes stood down after she discovered, on reviewing documents, that she had mislead the House with some of her comments. She discovered a letter dating from a year ago concerning a suspected Eastern Europe visa scam which she later failed to mention.

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