Blunkett admits he was 'arrogant'

Mr Blunkett has spoken about falling in love

David Blunkett has publicly accepted he was "arrogant" in making scathing comments about his Cabinet colleagues.

The home secretary was quoted as criticising a string of fellow ministers in a new biography.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said the comments came from an "element of personal arrogance", while Downing Street said they were "unfortunate".

Mr Blunkett's spokesman said the home secretary accepted Mr Prescott's remarks as "perfectly fair comment".

Bending rules?

A senior Labour backbencher has meanwhile highlighted the "unease" among MPs over allegations the visa application for the nanny of Mr Blunkett's former lover was fast-tracked.

Writing in the London Evening Standard, Diane Abbott says: "You cannot carry credibility as a 'tough on immigration, tough on the causes of immigration' home secretary if you are seen to be willing to bend your own rules for the convenience of your girlfriend".

Miss Abbott says she hopes the inquiry, by Sir Alan Budd, into the visa application clears Mr Blunkett of any impropriety and of any appearance of impropriety.

"If not he should consider the full political implication of what has happened and be prepared to take the consequences," she writes.

'Bad day'

In the new biography of Mr Blunkett by Stephen Pollard, the home secretary says Education Secretary Charles Clarke has gone "soft" on standards; Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt does not think strategically; and Mr Prescott is sensitive about being dubbed "two Jags".

The book also says his officials were shocked by the "mess" in which Jack Straw left the Home Office.

Mr Prescott said he thought Mr Blunkett would keep his job.

"I fundamentally disagree with his judgments on his Cabinet colleagues, but to be fair to David, he has apologised publicly and personally to his colleagues and was honest enough to confess to a certain amount of arrogance in his conclusions.

"So the whole issue of judgement on Cabinet colleagues, which the press have seized upon, has come about because of an element of personal arrogance and a very large amount of personal financial gain and book sales for the author."

The allegations centre around Mrs Quinn's nanny

Tony Blair's official spokesman said Mr Blunkett had made the criticisms after a "bad day" and had apologised.

Mr Prescott's intervention comes after the home secretary spoke in public of his love for married publisher Kimberly Quinn for the first time.

In the interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, which was made before the visa allegations emerged, Mr Blunkett said: "I fell in love with someone and they wouldn't go public and things started to go very badly wrong in the summer, and then the News of the World picked up the story.

"I tried for three years to make something work."

The home secretary is taking legal action to gain access to Mrs Quinn's two-year-old son. She denies he is Mr Blunkett's.