David Blunkett

During his time as Home Secretary, Blunkett had a relationship with Kimberly Fortier, the American-born publisher of The Spectator, a conservative magazine. The three-year relationship ended acrimoniously in August 2004, with Fortier choosing to return to her husband, Stephen Quinn. Fortier has since reverted to her married name.

Blair regarded it proper for Blunkett to remain Home Secretary while pursuing his pregnant former lover in the courts to ascertain paternity of her unborn child as it appeared of no relevance to his ministerial position. However, at the end of November 2004, it was alleged that Blunkett abused his position to assist his ex-lover's Filipina nanny, Leoncia "Luz" Casalme, by speeding up her residence visa application and later using his influence to ensure that she successfully obtained an Austrian tourist visa. An investigation into these allegations was launched, led by Sir Alan Budd. Shortly before Sir Alan was due to report his findings, an email emerged headed "no special favours, .. but a bit quicker". Though there was no evidence Blunkett was responsible for the email or its title, he resigned as Home Secretary on 15 December 2004, saying that questions about his honesty were damaging the government. Sir Alan's final verdict, delivered on 21 December 2004, concluded that "I believe I have been able to establish a chain of events linking Blunkett to the change in the decision on Mrs Casalme's application."

Budd admitted that the investigation was "not a straightforward matter", because few involved in it could recall the details. His report says:

“

I believe there are two broad possibilities: Mr Blunkett was seeking special help for Mrs Quinn's nanny (or) he was raising the case as an example of the poor performance of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). I do not have direct evidence that allows me to choose between the two possibilities.

”

A fax from Blunkett's office to the IND had not been found during the inquiry but Sir Alan found no evidence of an attempt to conceal or destroy evidence. Following the report's publication, he told reporters: "I have been unable to link Mr Blunkett to the sending of faxes to the IND. There must have been such a link but I have been unable to discover what its nature was."

Blunkett resigned as Home Secretary after being told in advance of Budd's findings. He said: "I want to make it clear that I fully accept the findings of Sir Alan's report, where his findings differ from my recollections this is simply due to failure on my part to recall details."

On the day that Sir Alan delivered his report, a Parliamentary standards committee led by Sir Philip Mawer also upheld a complaint against Blunkett for giving Quinn a taxpayer-funded railway ticket (reserved for MPs' spouses) to the value of £179. Blunkett had already admitted that he had broken the rules, saying that he had made an honest mistake, and repaid the sum in question.

Blunkett was not helped by a series of stinging criticisms of his Cabinet colleagues, made by Blunkett to his biographer Stephen Pollard, which became public days before he resigned. His increasingly public paternity battle (see Private life) was also believed by many to be harming his position. However, many believed that he would be able to salvage his political career.