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ID card champion Blunkett resigns over visa row
It wasn't privacy concerns that ultimately sank this Agenda Setter in the end...

By Andy McCue

Published: Thursday 16 December 2004

David Blunkett has resigned after it emerged a visa for his ex-lover's nanny had been fast-tracked. He will be remembered by many in the technology community and beyond as the government's champion of a controversial £3bn biometric ID card scheme.

As Home Secretary he staked his political reputation on getting the ID card scheme in the government's legislative plans before the anticipated general election next May, despite opposition from within Tony Blair's cabinet.

But events in his personal life overtook that triumph in recent weeks as he became embroiled in a bitter and public legal battle over access to his ex-lover's child and subsequent allegations that he helped get her nanny a work visa fast-tracked in days instead of the usual nine months.

He resigned on Wednesday after it was revealed the inquiry into the visa allegations was expected to find against him over an email that had asked for the permit to be processed with "no favours but slightly quicker".

It will be a bitter blow for Blunkett, ranked as a silicon.com high-tech Agenda Setter this year, who has fought doggedly against the opponents of the £3bn ID card scheme and reaffirmed his belief in it at a conference just last month when he said that if it went wrong he would be remembered as "one of the biggest political failures Britain has ever produced".

Education secretary Charles Clarke - one of the ministers Blunkett criticised in his biography - will take over as Home Secretary and will now be charged with seeing the ID card bill through Parliament.

For the lowdown on the UK's biometric ID card scheme check out this silicon.com Cheat Sheet.