David Blunkett, a key political ally of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, abruptly resigned on Wednesday from the Cabinet amid raging controversy over his business affairs, the government announced.
It is the second time in less than a year that Blunkett, who was works and pensions secretary, has quit Blair’s Cabinet, after being forced to resign last December as home secretary.
Blair’s official spokesperson said the prime minister accepted the resignation ”reluctantly”, after Blunkett (58) told him he felt his position had become ”untenable”.
The prime minister was to face Parliament at noon for a weekly question period certain to be dominated by the resignation.
Political analysts said Blunkett’s downfall is a serious blow to Blair, just six months into what the prime minister wanted to be a triumphant third straight term in power for his Labour Party.
The sudden development came just a day after Blunkett gave an interview to his hometown newspaper in northern England, the Sheffield Star, declaring that he would not allow his critics to drive him out of office.
Blair’s spokesperson said: ”David Blunkett came to see the prime minister this morning.
”The prime minister continued to express his full support for David Blunkett in his position, but David Blunkett said he had reflected on the position and he believed his position to be untenable.”
The spokesperson said that Blunkett — who was due to unveil a raft of major pension reforms next month — had tendered his resignation, which Blair ”reluctantly” accepted.
Rumours that Blunkett had resigned had swirled through Parliament earlier on Wednesday when he failed to appear before a parliamentary committee as he had been scheduled to do.
He has been at the centre of a furore since it emerged that he failed to get clearance from a watchdog ethics committee to become a director last April of DNA Biosciences, a technology firm in a position to seek government contracts.
He quit his directorship after two weeks when Blair led his Labour Party to a third-term victory in the May general election and brought Blunkett back into the Cabinet.
But it subsequently emerged that Blunkett had links with another company, and with a charity, for which he should have — as a former minister — also sought prior approval.
Under an official ministerial code of conduct, former ministers must consult the advisory committee on business appointments over any job they take up within two years of leaving office.
The main opposition Conservatives, keen to make political capital out of the uproar, reacted by stepping up their demands for an inquiry into Blunkett’s affairs.
Last December, Blunkett was forced to step down as home secretary over allegations that he speeded up the approval of a residency visa for a Filipina nanny employed by his ex-lover, married magazine publisher Kimberly Quinn.
The Home Office portfolio includes public security, immigration policy and the fight against terrorism. — Sapa-AFP