DAVID BLUNKETT was fighting to restore credibility in himself and the Government’s immigration policies last night after his deputy, Beverley Hughes, resigned for misleading the public.

On what he admitted was the “worst day” of his political life, the Home Secretary faced questions about his role in events leading up to her shock departure, his judgment in declaring that she would never be dismissed and that the Tories would not gain her scalp, and embarrassing claims that Tony Blair intends to take control of the government response to immigration.

Mr Blair confirmed that he would be taking a “close interest” in immigration, having previously become heavily involved in other issues on Mr Blunkett’s patch, including street crime and asylum.

Ms Hughes’s resignation was portrayed by Mr Blunkett’s opponents as confirmation that chaos and confusion in the immigration system had been covered up by ministers for more than a year.

Ms Hughes resigned as Immigration Minister yesterday morning after admitting that she had misled the public by giving the impression in interviews that she had not known about a suspected East European visa scam.

She was sunk by official papers confirming that she was warned about the bogus claims from Bulgaria and Romania by a fellow minister, Bob Ainsworth, a year ago. Mr Ainsworth, then a Home Office Minister, has since become Deputy Chief Whip. He reminded Ms Hughes on Monday night of their exchanges after she had insisted in interviews that she knew nothing of similar allegations that had emerged from a British consular official in Bucharest.

Ms Hughes was then shown correspondence that confirmed not only that Mr Ainsworth had raised the issue but also that she had acted in response. She told Mr Blunkett over dinner on Tuesday night, hours after a Commons debate in which the Tories had called for her head. According to government officials, she said that the papers meant that she had given a misleading impression to the public and that her position had become untenable.

According to informed sources, Mr Blunkett took some convincing that her mistake was a resignation issue.

Mr Blunkett faced questions over whether he had known about the correspondence when he had defended Ms Hughes on Tuesday. During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, he had shouted remarks at Mr Howard suggesting that ministers had not known. Downing Street insisted last night that Mr Blunkett had been referring only to the allegations made on Monday night.

With the Conservatives demanding an independent inquiry, Michael Howard said last night that the system was in chaos. The Tory leader said in Plymouth: “This is a Government that has let the country down on one of its most important responsibilities, which is the control of our frontiers and the control of immigration.”

Fears that immigration is set to become a huge issue in the next general election have increased Mr Blair’s involvement in the issue, government sources confirmed last night.

In a calmly delivered resignation statement to the Commons, Ms Hughes said: “It has become clear to me that, however unwittingly, I may have given a misleading impression in my interviews on Monday night about whether anything of the concerns expressed about the operation of clearance controls from Bulgaria and Romania had crossed my desk at any stage in the last two years.

“On Wednesday, having re-read the interviews I gave on Monday, I realised that what I said then was not, in fact, fully consistent with that correspondence and once the full picture was then clear to me, I asked to see both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary to explain that I had decided that I could not continue.”

Mr Blunkett said: “I am deeply saddened, as we all are. She did a fantastically competent job in halving asylum, in actually doubling the number of removals, in transforming the decision-making.”

Desmond Browne moves from the Department of Work and Pensions to replace Ms Hughes. Jane Kennedy moves from Northern Ireland to take his job, and Barry Gardiner, Ms Hughes’s parliamentary private secretary, takes the Northern Ireland post.

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