Blair to pledge action on immigration

Tony Blair is set to take personal charge of urgent action to end turmoil in the immigration system before the next election.

The Prime Minister wants a "systematic" overhaul of procedures after allegations that officials turned a blind eye to fraudulent applications.

The move follows mounting concern in Downing Street that voters will punish Labour at the ballot box for embarrassing revelations about apparently blatant cheating, including a onelegged man posing as a roofer.

Mr Blair was expected to pledge tough action during his monthly press conference at No 10 today. The crackdown is likely to mirror the Downing Street-led drive to curb the number of asylum-seekers last year - although No 10 officials insist Mr Blair has full confidence in Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes and Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Some advisers believe the issue is so vital to trust in the Government that Mr Blair needs to confront it head-on, and there were reports that he will make a major speech on the subject in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, disciplinary proceedings were beginning today for Steve Moxon, the immigration official who turned whistleblower to expose a covert policy by civil servants of relaxing checks on some migrants to clear up a backlog of casework.

Mr Moxon was suspended from his post at the Sheffield office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate after he passed details of the scheme to a newspaper. He was due to be interviewed today but insisted he acted in line with Whitehall rules.

"Not only is it in all respects reasonable for me to have behaved in the way I did, but I would have failed in public duty not to have done so," he said last night.

A second whistleblower, the British consul in Bucharest, James Cameron, has also been suspended for passing information to Tory shadow home secretary David Davis. He revealed visas were routinely issued despite warnings from the Foreign Office of a "scam" involving forged documents and bogus plans to set up small businesses.

Ms Hughes has said she knew nothing of the problems and an internal inquiry has been set up to investigate.

Mr Blair and Michael Howard clashed bitterly in the Commons yesterday. Mr Blair came close to accusing the Tory leader of playing the race card, saying: "This issue should be handled with care for very obvious reasons as everybody in this House knows. And I'm not sure today you have fulfilled that." Angry Mr Howard cried: "Withdraw."