Britain's work and pensions secretary David Blunkett said today he was stepping down from the Cabinet for the second time in a year to protect the British government from the "diversion" that speculation about his private life was creating.
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David Blunkett leaves Downing Street by the back door earlier today |
As Westminster swirled with rumours that he had been fired, both Mr Blunkett and Downing Street insisted that was not the case.
But Tory leader Michael Howard said the episode demonstrated that Mr Blair's authority was "no longer seeping away, but haemorrhaging".
Earlier Mr Blunkett called a press conference to defend his conduct after weeks of controversy over his links with technology firm DNA Bioscience and other companies.
"I'm guilty of a mistake and I'm paying the price of it," he told reporters, after accepting he should have consulted an advisory committee before taking up new jobs after leaving office for the first time in December.
Mr Blunkett stressed that there were no revelations to come which could have forced him from office.
Mr Blunkett had come under relentless pressure after apparently breaking ministerial rules. Mr Blair had brought Mr Blunkett back into government earlier this year after Mr Blunkett quit last year in a scandal over his affair with a married woman.
Under the ministerial code of conduct, former ministers are required to consult the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACBA) over any appointment they take up within two years of leaving office.
Downing Street insisted Mr Blunkett's failure to contact the committee over his role as a paid adviser to the Organisation for Research and Technology charity was a "mistake" which did not affect his ability to do his job.
However, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, said he had "undoubtedly" committed a breach in the code in failing to consult ACBA over two earlier appointments.
Mr Blunkett indicated that he had not yet sold the £15,000-worth of shares in DNA Bioscience which are held in a trust for his sons and which he said on Monday that he was planning to sell.
He said he would talk with his sons "in a week or two's time" about what to do with the shares, which City insiders believe may increase in value to as much as £300,000 when the company floats on the stock market.
His resignation was announced at 11am today and Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Commons an hour later that his close ally "goes, in my view, with no stain of impropriety against him whatsoever".
Cabinet colleague John Hutton stepped into Mr Blunkett's shoes, switching from the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. No 10 will not complete the ministerial reshuffle until next week.
The ex-minister told reporters he had done nothing wrong in buying shares on behalf of his three eldest sons in DNA Bioscience, when he stepped down as a director in the firm on his return to the Cabinet last May.
Shadow leader of the House Chris Grayling - who led calls for Mr Blunkett to quit - said he had done "the right thing" in going.
He said Mr Blunkett had made a series of misjudgements and broken the ministerial rules.
Labour MPs tonight largely reflected that Mr Blunkett had simply paid the price for a series of errors of judgment which meant he could not remain a member of the Government.