DAVID BLUNKETT was poised to resign from the cabinet if he had not got his way over identity cards, it has emerged.

The home secretary told Tony Blair that he believed so strongly that ID cards were necessary to combat terrorism that he would not back down.

Blunkett went to see the prime minister 10 days ago immediately after clashing with Gordon Brown over the scheme at a cabinet sub-committee.

Blair, who had already stated publicly that he was ??in principle?? in favour of ID cards, backed Blunkett, one of his closest allies.

Shortly before the cabinet met the next morning, John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, convened a meeting between Blunkett and other ID card supporters, including John Reid, the health secretary, and Peter Hain, the Commons leader.

Blair then told the cabinet that a draft bill on ID cards would be included in the Queen??s speech and Blunkett would be allowed to make a Commons statement on the issue.

Blunkett??s dramatic warning came after the cabinet??s domestic affairs sub-committee met on Guy Fawkes night. It had been expected that a compromise would be reached, but Brown and his allies refused even to accept the idea of a draft bill in the Queen??s speech.

Blunkett made a coded reference to how strongly he felt in a radio interview when he compared a failure to press ahead with the plans to Labour??s inability to act on Barbara Castle??s In Place of Strife proposals for union reform in the late 1960s. Castle, who died last year, had herself threatened to resign.

??It??s about addressing issues that you don??t have to address now, but if you don??t, will come back to bite you in years to come. That??s the measure of our prime minister, addressing things that it would be very easy not to deal with now,?? he said.

Although a majority of Labour MPs favour ID cards in a new BBC survey, 55 of the 101 questioned also want more research to be carried out. Under the plans, all new passports and driving licences will include details such as eye recognition and fingerprints from 2007.

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