David Blunkett's career as a leading British politician was under fresh pressure on Saturday after it was claimed that he had allowed himself to become a victim of a classic honeytrap.
Although British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office in Downing Street officially rallied to the embattled Work and Pensions Secretary's defense, sources at senior levels within the Labour party are privately questioning his behavior and judgment.
Sally Anderson, the 29-year-old estate agent who was introduced to him in a Mayfair club, is now entertaining offers of up to ?150,000 (US$264,000) for her "kiss and tell" story of their bitterly disputed relationship. Claims that she had tipped off Fleet Street to the relationship and encouraged photographers to capture Blunkett with her were denied by celebrity PR adviser Max Clifford, who is now representing her.
PHOTO: EPA
However the right-wing tabloid Daily Mail, which whisked her off to a hotel during the Labour party conference, said that the anonymous informant who first alerted newspapers to the relationship -- which Blunkett insists was only ever platonic -- used Anderson's mobile phone, while payments were requested to be sent to a house to which she held the keys or to a bank account in the name of herself and her boyfriend.
Despite the embarrassing publicity, Tony Blair is however said to be sympathetic.
"The reason David Blunkett is respected and liked still, despite the fact that he's had difficult personal issues, is that he is seen to be a politician who understands the issues that concern people and is prepared to take brave and difficult decisions," said one source close to him.
Blunkett returned to the Cabinet in May, five months after resigning over his handling as Home Secretary (the UK's interior minister) of a visa application from the nanny of his then lover, Kimberly Quinn.
Friends are said to be concerned after a string of clashes with the media, in which Blunkett has accused journalists of misquoting him or making up stories about his relationships with Quinn and Anderson, only to be forced to back down again.
A spokesman for Blunkett denied claims by Anderson that he asked her to marry him and have his children: "We have said from the start that this was a platonic friendship. Anything else just wasn't the case."
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