Kimberly’s Game

‘WITH one in four of us apparently planning to celebrate the New Year by quitting our job, the big question is whether David Blunkett will be among them.

‘She’s got a husband? I’ve never seen him!’

The Home Secretary’s lovelorn face is on the front page of all the papers this morning as he continues to fight to prove he is the father of lover Kimberly Quinn’s children.

But at what cost? The Independent is not alone in its judgement that his cabinet career is hanging in the balance as a result of the spat with the glamorous American.

For, while it appears that Blunkett may indeed be proved to be the father of her son William and quite possibly her unborn child as well, he is facing questions of his own.

In fact, he has had to set up an independent inquiry into allegations that he misused his position to help his former mistress, specifically that he helped fast-track a visa application for her nanny Leoncia Casalme.

And so we at last get our own version of that peculiarly American ritual Nannygate, albeit we have an American to thank for introducing it.

Among our American friends, hiring a legal nanny or housekeeper appears to be a social faux-pas on a par with, say, belching in the Queen’s face.

But will our British version be enough to drive Blunkett from office?

The Times says the Home Secretary has the full confidence of the Prime Minister, and Blunkett himself is said to be furious at the accusations.

‘Trust, plain-speaking and straight-talking,’ he said, ‘is something which matters so much to me as a politician and as a man.’

Not to mention calling a spade a spade, not mincing one’s words, the absence of periphrasm, the avoidance of circumlocution, eschewing tortology…’

Posted: 29th, November 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink