A Fistful of Home Truths; David Blunkett's Unflattering Remarks about His Colleagues Offer an Unusually Candid Insight into Cabinet Failures - All except His Own

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Byline: ANNE MCELVOY

THE Home Secretary David Blunkett has embarked on a round of apologies to all Cabinet colleagues he trashed in conversations with his biographer Stephen Pollard. He may be some time.

We have had one of those rare, enjoyable Gerald Ratner moments, when an over-candid remark lays bare truths usually concealed underneath layers of polite waffle. Mr Blunkett did not quite say that the Government was, er, rubbish and it was a mystery to him why people still voted for it, but his assessment of key performers was far more pungent than the ritualistic insults meted out by the Opposition.

From his dry assessment of Jack Straw, lobbying in the mantle of a great statesman for the EU accession of Eastern European states one minute and then "stoking total panic" about the resulting adverse impact on immigration statistics the next, to John Prescott's preening obsession with his own importance, Charles Clarke …