Blunkett ex-lover to give evidence

The Irish publisher whose wife was involved in an affair with British home secretary David Blunkett said yesterday that she would testify before an inquiry into claims that Blunkett fast-tracked a residency application for her nanny.

Meanwhile the Conservatives stepped up the pressure on Mr Blunkett by suggesting he might have to quit.

Stephen Quinn confirmed that his pregnant wife, Kimberly, publisher of The Spectator magazine, will offer evidence to the inquiry headed by former Treasury official Sir Alan Budd.

“She has written (to Sir Alan) and she will testify and she should testify, but it’s her decision,” said Mr Quinn.

Asked if Mrs Quinn, who is currently hospitalised, would be well enough to testify in person, he said: “She can testify in written submission ... I don’t think this should be some sort of whitewash.”

Speaking outside his Mayfair home, Mr Quinn told Channel 4 News he did not support calls for Mr Blunkett to consider quitting the Home Office.

“I’m not involved in anything like that, I don’t have any views about that kind of thing. I’m only concerned about the health and welfare of my wife and child,” he said.

With the Tories suggesting that Mr Blunkett might have to quit over the fallout from his affair, ministerial colleagues John Reid, the health secretary, and children’s minister Margaret Hodge came to the home secretary’s aid.

They insisted that political opponents and the public should await the outcome of the Budd inquiry before passing judgment.

Mrs Hodge said demands for Mr Blunkett’s resignation were “outrageous.”

She told Sky News: “It demeans the behaviour and conduct of all of us as politicians... Let’s wait for the inquiry and see what that says.”

And Dr Reid told BBC 1’s Breakfast with Frost programme: “Sir Alan Budd will no doubt conduct his inquiry, admittedly against a background where everyone who called for an inquiry now seems to want to pre-empt the findings.”