Blunkett saga unravels

David Blunkett today faced a raft of new allegations over the granting of a visa for his ex-lover's nanny.

The Home Secretary insists he played no role in helping Filipina Leoncia Casalme obtain permanent residency in Britain.

But today there are new claims that:

  • After being warned she faced a oneyear delay to receive her visa, Mr Blunkett's lover Kimberly Quinn told the nanny: "I'll see what I can do, I have a friend." The implication is that she asked her lover to intervene.
  • Mr Blunkett allegedly asked his officials to "look over" the letter sent by the Home Office warning the visa would take a year to process, rather than, as he claims, to check the original application form.
  • The granting of the visa broke a longstanding rule that applicants must have worked for four years in the UK. Experts said that was an unprecedented breach of custom.
  • The case folder was said to have crossed the desk of Home Office permanent secretary John Gieve - the man who set up the inquiry into the affair and who is a close friend of Sir Alan Budd who is conducting the inquiry.

In a further damaging allegation, one of the Home Office's most experienced officials said he had never known a visa to be approved for someone who had not lived in the UK for four years.

Andrew Walmsley, a former director of the nationality unit with 37 years experience of cases, said: "I have never come across that before where somebody has been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the basis of them working here but not having worked here for four years." Mr Walmsley made a clear hint that Mr Blunkett could have exercised influence even without directly demanding the form be speeded up.

He said: "Merely the fact that the Home Secretary has an interest in a case can sometimes persuade whoever is dealing with it to treat it exceptionally."

Mr Blunkett's battle for access to Mrs Quinn's two-year-old son William is threatening to spiral out of control.

Today there were also reports that friends have urged the Home Secretary to quit his job to concentrate on fighting for access.

Letters from the Home Office to Ms Casalme show that her forms were processed in 19 days despite a warning that it could take a year.

Under Home Office rules, leave to remain can be granted only with the Home Secretary is certain that an individual has been working in the country for four years.

Ms Casalme entered Britain in July 1999 and was granted leave to remain in May last year.

Mr Blunkett insists staff were simply being efficient in a drive to clear a backlog of work.

Mr Blunkett's most senior civil servant was facing more questions today after it was reported that he the nanny's application to stay in the UK had crossed his own desk.

Mr Gieve was alleged to have been handed the application by the Home Secretary's principal private secretary Jonathan Sedgwick.

Mr Gieve is alleged to have then had the document forwarded to the Immigration and Nationality Department in Croydon. An immigration source quoted by a newspaper today said: "Any application emanating from the boss would cer tainly be treated very favourably and more importantly, quickly."

In a further development, it emerged that Ms Casalme received a phone call from a man purporting to work for the Home Office just before the scandal erupted.

Ms Casalme claims she was contacted by the official last Thursday, three days before claims that Mr Blunkett fast-tracked her visa first surfaced.

Ms Casalme claims she was contacted on her mobile around 5pm from a man claiming to be a representative of the Home Office, whose name she cannot remember and whose number was withheld.

In an interview published today, Ms Casalme recalled: "He asked me if I had a problem with my visa. I said, 'What do you mean, is there a problem with my visa?' and he replied, 'Not yet.'

"I said, 'What do you mean, not yet?'

"He said, 'It's just because your files were not forwarded to head office, they were sent straight to Mr Blunkett's office'.

"The last thing he said to me was, 'If you have any problems just let us know and we will do all we can'." Her account raises new doubts over Mr Blunkett's claims that she did not receive special treatment because of her links with his ex-lover.

Mr Blunkett is fighting for access to William and wants a DNA test to prove he is the boy's father. Friends say he simply wants to be able to see his son.

Earlier this week, Mrs Quinn, who is seven months pregnant, was taken to hospital suffering from pregnancy "complications" as the row over the affair escalated.

It is not known whether the Home Secretary is also the father of the child she is expecting.

Today her nanny told how Mrs Quinn broke down in tears when her adulterous relationship with Mr Blunkett became public.

Mrs Quinn reportedly told the nanny: "I hope you are not going to hate me ... I had a good life and now I've thrown it away."

She told how Mrs Quinn's husband Stephen resolutely stood by his wife.

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