David Blunkett

David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary forced to resign in the wake of an affair, is evidently feeling sorry for himself. No doubt the royalties from his book, which is being pushed in both the right wing Daily Mail and the left wing Guardian will have a therapeutic value.

Like that other great Labour Lothario, John Prescott, Blunkett blames his demise on the scandal-mongering, sex-obsessed media. Wrong. Blunkett deserved, and Prescott ( still a minister) deserves, to be sacked not because they had mistresses but because each abused his office to do favours for his lover.

Blunkett fast tracked a visa application for his mistress' nanny, denied it and was found out only when e-mails between his office and the immigration authorities were unearthed. Prescott used his official car and driver to provide a taxi service for his mistress, an inappropriate use of public funds.

Sympathy for a former Home Secretary caught lying about his abuse of office. I think not.

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