British Home Secretary David Blunkett has been forced to deny renewed allegations he helped "fast-track" a visa application for his married lover's nanny, after the Daily Mail said it was approved within 19 days.
"The Home Secretary has done absolutely nothing wrong," said a spokesman for Blunkett, a key ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the spearhead of the government's anti-terror drive.
Blunkett spokesman
Blunkett has already set up an inquiry into media accusations he had sought to speed up the visa application.
A Home Office spokeswoman and a Downing Street spokesman both declined to comment.
The Conservatives said Blunkett would have to explain why the application was apparently processed so quickly.
"If the Daily Mail story is correct, it is very difficult to understand how this can be the normal length of procedure for an application," David Davis, Conservative spokesman on home affairs, said in a statement. "If he influenced this matter, his position is untenable."
The Daily Mail's allegations provided the British media with a new twist in a high-profile row that has embroiled Blair's government before a general election expected next year.
The newspaper printed two documents which it said were from Blunkett's department and which appeared to show the nanny's application was approved far quicker than originally expected.
It said one letter told Filipina Leoncia Casalme her application could take a year to process. A second, apparently dated less than 3 weeks later, said the application had been approved and she could stay in Britain.
Blunkett has denied any wrongdoing and set up an independent inquiry on Monday into media accusations that he sought to speed up the visa claim.
On Tuesday, Blunkett repaid the cost of a train ticket he bought using taxpayers' money for his former lover, married publisher Kimberly Quinn. He said he had made a genuine mistake and apologised.
Newspapers say the minister is engaged in a paternity suit over Quinn's 2-year-old son and an unborn child.
The Home Secretary, a 57-year-old divorcee who is Britain's most high-profile blind person, is in charge of crime and security.