Blunkett wades in to back Hughes
David Blunkett threw a protective ring around his beleaguered deputy Beverley Hughes today, telling critics: "She is not going to resign."
He intervened to save the Immigration Minister from charges that she covered up a relaxation of checks on migrants living in Britain.
Mr Blunkett warned her critics they would have to get past him first. "You are not getting a scalp in my department," the Home Secretary declared. And the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: " Beverley Hughes continues to have the confidence of the Prime Minister - in the same way she did last week and the week before that. She has done a difficult job well and should be given credit for achievements on asylum."
Ms Hughes was under pressure to make a
Commons statement on leaked memos which revealed she personally approved a policy to wave through cases without full checks. Mr Blunkett said he fully backed Ms Hughes's decisions and claimed the Tories had carried out similar policies when in power.
He squared up for a fight to save his junior, saying: "Let me make it absolutely clear. Bev Hughes is not going. She is not resigning. She is not going to be sacked."
While making clear he did not himself approve the policy, he said he would have done so "had it come across my desk". Tory leader Michael Howard called on Ms Hughes to resign, saying her actions may have risked national security.
"What is quite clear is that the way Beverley Hughes is dealing with immigration has become an absolute shambles," he added.
The latest leak came after weeks of controversy over the disclosure of Home Office policies designed to clear huge backlogs of paperwork by easing the thoroughness of immigration tests.
According to one internal memo, Ms Hughes personally authorised staff at the immigration office headquarters at Croydon simply to pass most applications if they had been on their desks for three months or more.
Ms Hughes had dismissed as "rare and untypical" one such policy at the Sheffield office dealing with eastern European applicants. She blamed officials acting without approval.
But the latest leaked memo, from senior managers at Croydon last July, said Ms Hughes personally backed "enhanced procedures" to clear a backlog.
It stated: "All applications - as far as possible - over three months old should be granted, unless the information available on file is such that it can properly and defensibly support a refusal."
