Row overshadows good news for Blunkett

By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

If David Blunkett was expecting some good news coverage on his asylum plans, he has been sorely disappointed.

Blunkett wants failed refugees' children in care

And for many - including a number of his own backbenchers - it is entirely his own fault.

On the very day he met the prime minister's pledge to halve the numbers seeking refuge in the UK, he was still embroiled in a bitter row over his proposal to take into care the children of failed asylum seekers.

And his exasperation was evident when he erupted on the BBC's Today programme, declaring the world had gone mad.

Stories about his asylum plans were the result of journalists finding "a mouth to give them a headline", he claimed.

The day before, of course, Tory leader Michael Howard claimed the mouth in question was Mr Blunkett himself who, he said, had briefed newspapers on the asylum plans before the Queen's Speech in a calculated attempt to win front page news.

Bogus refugees

And Mr Howard struck a chord with many Labour MPs when he tore into the policy of taking children into care, describing it as shameful and despicable.

The last thing the prime minister needs now is yet another backbench rebellion, particularly on such a sensitive issue.

This now has the potential to escalate into yet another serious backbench rebellion against the government, with the Tories and the Liberal Democrats determined to oppose it at every turn.

There is no doubt that this is a policy which has dismayed large numbers of MPs on all sides.

And the Home Secretary will have a major job on his hands persuading them it is humane and not simply a threat intended to dissuade people from seeking asylum in Britain.

His argument is that, if he is forced to remove benefits from bogus refugees who refuse to leave the country, then it is doing the children a favour to take them into care.

"It is extraordinarily difficult to remove families. If the family refuses to go and they have not got benefits and therefore the children are at risk of destitution, is it better to actually take them into care or allow them to be destitute?" he said.

Kicked out

He may not like the answer he gets from his opponents, who have already suggested he should not be making families destitute in the first place.

Blunkett says talks continue on his safe havens plan

To then remove their children from them would be beyond the pale and targeting the most innocent and vulnerable, they say.

It is also being claimed that any such move, if it ever becomes law, would be kicked out by the courts.

And there must be an "if" about this policy.

The last thing the prime minister needs now, with probably just 18 months to go to the next election, is yet another backbench rebellion, particularly on such a sensitive issue.

He only narrowly avoided defeat over his controversial plans for foundation hospitals.

Now he is facing the real possibility of defeat over top up fees for students.

Meanwhile, the revived Tory party is opposed to top up fees and has now rejected outright the latest asylum proposals.

And it is quite possible the asylum proposal could become as controversial as top up fees and threaten an equally large revolt.

So Mr Blunkett is going to come under intense pressure to abandon this proposal.

And there are already bets being laid in Westminster that it will be quietly dropped.