Ministers' code 'needs reviewing'

Mr Blunkett was a director at DNA Bioscience for two weeks.

The head of the government standards watchdog has called for an "immediate review" of the ministerial code in the wake of David Blunkett's resignation.

Committee on Standards in Public Life chairman Sir Alistair Graham told the Independent on Sunday it may be worth seeing if the rules "need tightening".

Sir Alistair also said he disagreed with Tony Blair that Mr Blunkett had not been guilty of impropriety.

He said Mr Blair must ensure action was taken against those who broke rules.

Mr Blunkett quit his post as work and pensions secretary on Wednesday after breaking the ministerial code of conduct over paid work he took while out of the Cabinet.

He broke the rules because he did not consult an independent committee which advises former ministers on whether they should take up jobs.

Sir Alistair said he did not believe the government had a "smell of sleaze", but thought a more rigorous ethical approach was needed to restore public confidence in politicians.

'Rigorous regime'

"It is very important that ministers are seen to be subject to a rigorous ethical regime," he said.

Mr Blair took no action against Mr Blunkett for breaking the code, instead accepting his resignation.

It has been claimed that Mr Blunkett had a conflict of interest as he held shares in DNA Bioscience, a firm which bids for government contracts to provide paternity tests for the Child Support Agency.

Opponents claimed that by failing to discuss his directorship in the firm and two other jobs with an advisory committee, he also breached standards protocol.

Sir Alistair told the Sunday newspaper that MPs needed to be shown they would not have a second chance after breaking regulations.

He said the committee sometimes received complaints that the "ethical standards framework" for parish and district councillors was much tougher than for ministers.

"They (ministers) have a relatively lenient regime, so when a breach of those rules takes place it's very important something happens," he said.