Blunkett affair: It’s not your typical British sex scandal

British government officials probably do not, on balance, have more extramarital affairs than government officials in other countries; it on...

British government officials probably do not, on balance, have more extramarital affairs than government officials in other countries; it only seems that way. For various reasons — its tabloid press, its adolescent obsession with naughty behaviour, its long dark winters — Britain has become the unofficial capital of the politico-sexual scandal.

The most notorious such affair took place at the height of the Cold War, when John Profumo, then the war secretary, resigned in disgrace after it emerged that his sometime girlfriend, Christine Keeler, was also the sometime girlfriend of a Soviet spy.

But romantically restless British officials (male, always) have invariably proved spectacularly incompetent at three things: 1) remaining faithful to their wives; 2) keeping embarrassing details of their extramarital affairs out of the newspapers; 3) and, as a consequence, keeping their jobs.

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The latest imbroglio, concerning the bitter demise of a three-year affair between David Blunkett, the divorced British Home Secretary, and Kimberly Quinn, the married publisher of The Spectator, is different on a number of counts, starting with the 57-year-old Blunkett’s singular position in British politics. With a broad portfolio that includes immigration, criminal justice, social welfare and anti-terrorism, Blunkett is among the most powerful people in the government and one of PM Tony Blair’s closest allies.

Also, his blindness, and the way he used his intellect and steely determination to overcome a childhood of nearly Dickensian grimness (among other things, his father died after falling into a vat of boiling water at the factory where he worked), mean that he inspires unusual personal sympathy even among his opponents. ‘‘I hope they will clear him,’’ Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said. ‘‘I bear him no ill will.’’

It is a complicated situation. In 2001, Blunkett, who had been divorced for years, began an affair with Quinn, who had just married her second husband. While this was going on, Quinn was trying to have a child. Her husband, Stephen, had an operation to reverse an earlier vasectomy; the couple had fertility treatments and she became pregnant. Two years ago, she gave birth to a son, William, whom Blunkett regularly saw until August, when his affair with Quinn collapsed. Blunkett claims the boy is his son, saying he ordered a private DNA test and that Quinn told him at the time that the results were positive. He is now fighting Quinn in court for the right to have regular access to William.

Last week, Quinn’s supporters threw a little bomb Blunkett’s way. In leaks to the newspapers, they accused Blunkett of improperly intervening last year in a visa application by Quinn’s former nanny. Blunkett has admitted to having an aide check the application, but has said he did nothing else. An independent probe has been ordered.

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	‘Blunkett’s ex-lover ready to testify over nanny visa probe’

	• LONDON: Kimberly Quinn, the former lover of Britain’s Home Secretary David Blunkett, wants to testify before an inquiry into claims Blunkett abused his position, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Quinn wants to give evidence about media allegations that Blunkett fast-tracked a visa application for her Filipino nanny, The Sunday Telegraph reported. Blunkett, whose department oversees immigration, denies the charges. He called for an independent inquiry and Sir Alan Budd was appointed for the probe. Quinn has written to Budd, her husband reportedly said. —PTI

But it’s even more tortuous. Quinn, 44, is now seven months pregnant with a second child and she is in the hospital suffering from stress. Her husband has stuck by her, telling reporters that he considers William and the unborn child to be his own.

Blunkett’s Cabinet colleagues have rallied around him, with Blair declaring his belief that even politicians have a right to private lives. But others do not see it that way. Lisa Jardine, a feminist scholar, objected to what she said was a notion among the men of Westminster — namely, that Quinn is a classic scarlet woman who seduced and then discarded a vulnerable man.

Right now Blunkett’s future looks uncertain, but he is a tough fighter and may well stick it out. Or he may not. Sex scandals involving Cabinet ministers almost always end, after the inevitable twisting in the wind, with forced resignations. —NYT