The Queue Jumpers

Let me, first of all, share a story. Well, not exactly a story. It is about a 'mini-upheaval' in the British politics in the later half of the year 2004. The individual at the center of the story was a gentleman named David Blunkett, the Home Secretary in the cabinet of Tony Blair since 2001. First, stories started appearing in the British media about an 'affair' between Mr. Blunkett and Mrs. Kimberley Quinn, the then publisher of the Spectator magazine. It is quite obvious that the media anywhere in the world would be on the lookout for stories which could 'spice up' or 'sex-up' the news. It came to light in August 2004 that Mr. Blunkett, a divorcee, and Mrs. Quinn, a married woman, had been in a relationship for over three years. Had the relationship continued or had it even ended without acrimony, it would not have attracted the media attention. However, for reasons best known to him, Mr. Blunkett started pressing for establishing that he was the father of Mrs. Quinn’s child, born during the period of their affair, through a paternity test. Mrs. Quinn tried to dissuade him but to no avail and Mr. Blunkett remained adamant on establishing the paternity, which was eventually established. When asked by the media, Mr. Tony Blair said that whatever David Blunkett did in his personal life should not be of any significance to his role as a public servant as long as he served the Government with propriety. Blair regarded it proper for Blunkett to remain Home Secretary while trying to ascertain paternity of her son as it appeared of no relevance to his ministerial position.

For a while it appeared that the matter would rest there. But that was not to be. At the end of November 2004, it was alleged that Blunkett abused his position to assist his ex-lover's Filipina nanny, Leoncia "Luz" Casalme, by speeding up her residence visa application and later using his influence to ensure that she successfully obtained an Austrian tourist visa. An investigation into these allegations was launched, led by Sir Alan Budd. Although the enquiry failed to establish directly that Blunkett had personally influenced the processing of the visa application there was evidence that the application had been processed ahead of other applications in the queue. And David Blunkett resigned accepting the responsibility for the impropriety of the Home Office, of which he was in charge.  

My mind, conditioned by the Indian political landscape, has often wondered about what would have happened in our country in a similar situation. Which of the two offences – having an affair with a married woman or using the official position to benefit somebody – would have been viewed more seriously? The answer is not difficult. Being so proud of our ‘sanskriti’ (culture), we would not tolerate the ‘paschatya anaitikta’(western immorality). As regards the other one – the misuse of the official position – we are so used to blatant misuse of positions, we would not be too bothered.