DAVID BLUNKETT’S estranged lover appeared to take savage revenge on the home secretary last night by accusing him of misusing his office in the course of their three-year affair.

In what seemed to be leading to an open war between the couple, Kimberly Quinn, 44, made damaging claims about Blunkett’s alleged abuse of his powers as home secretary.

At the same time she appeared to admit that Blunkett was the father of her two-year-old son. According to a newspaper report last night, the couple had a private DNA test last year that proved the boy was Blunkett’s.

She was alleged to have received the results and read them out to the blind Blunkett.

Her attack came after he threatened to use the law to gain official recognition of his fatherhood of her son William.

Friends of her husband, Stephen Quinn, 60, also said last night that they thought Blunkett was the father of her unborn child, due in February.

The Tories leapt on the new allegations last night and called for an independent inquiry into the sorry affair.

The most serious claim, denied by Blunkett, is that he fast-tracked a visa application for Quinn’s nanny. In an e-mail to a friend on Thursday she is said to have accused the home secretary of helping the Filipina nanny, Leoncia “Luz” Casalme, to get permanent residency.

The allegations threaten the 57-year-old home secretary’s political career. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, last night called for an independent inquiry led by a judge into the claims. “These are clearly very serious allegations which impact on David Blunkett’s public office,” he said.

Blunkett is also accused of allowing his mistress to have use of his official government car, putting policeman on duty to protect her home and giving her free rail tickets provided to him as an MP for his constituency duties.

The allegations surfaced after Blunkett made it clear that he would challenge the paternity of Quinn’s son William and her unborn baby.

Her husband, Stephen Quinn, told The Sunday Times last week that he will fight to keep the children in the face of a legal move by the home secretary to order official DNA tests on the children to prove they are his. Blunkett and Mrs Quinn fell out in August when she called off the relationship.

The extent of the ill-feeling between the two parties is revealed in an e-mail Quinn is reported to have sent on Thursday to a friend. Quinn, who has taken time off her job in publishing because of stress, said she was distressed because newspaper reporters had contacted the nanny asking about her visa application.

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