Blair warned of election disaster

Tony Blair was dragged into the storm over immigration chaos today amid fears in Downing Street that the issue is turning into an election disaster zone.

With Tories demanding the resignation of Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes, the Prime Minister was expected to mount a fierce defence of her in the Commons.

But it emerged that Mr Blair's closest advisers believe the issue is becoming a massive liability for Labour. Philip Gould, the premier's private pollster, was said to have warned "repeatedly" over recent months that voters are increasingly angry with the Government over mass migration and asylum-seekers.

Mr Blair himself was reported to have admitted privately that immigration could be the "number-one grievance" of disgruntled voters at the general election.

He was being put on the spot at questiontime in the Commons after a sheaf of leaked documents showed the Home Office was repeatedly warned over 18 months that racketeers were arranging visas for people from Bulgaria and Romania.

Letters from diplomats warned explicitly that entry controls were being "completely undermined" by a "massive, well-organised scam". But despite the alert applications continued to be approved by Home Office officials from suspected fraudsters, including a former asylum-seeker who had been ejected from Britain once before and a string of highly suspect small-businessmen. Applications were even considered from a one-legged man claiming to be a roof tiler and an electrician who lost his fingers in an electrical accident.

Conservatives claim the disclosures undermine Mr Blair's pledge to have halved the number of asylum-seekers coming to Britain - because some may simply be entering the country under a different category.

Ms Hughes survived calls for her resignation in a stormy Commons debate yesterday where she defiantly insisted: "I am not resigning, because my conscience is clear. I am neither incompetent nor dishonest and I intend to continue doing my job as long as the Prime Minister and Home Secretary want me to."

Shadow home secretary David Davis accused her of a "catas-trophic failure" to protect the system from abuse.

Downing Street made clear she retained Mr Blair's support. His official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister believes Beverley Hughes is a first-rate minister and the job that she does is probably one of the toughest jobs outside Cabinet."

The furore follows a string of leaks revealing that standard checks on migrants had been relaxed to help officials clear up a backlog of cases.

In the latest and most damaging leak, diplomat James Cameron disclosed a series of letters sent to the Home Office by Foreign Office officials who were astonished at the number of applications being approved that they deemed bogus. One letter, by diplomat Sir John Ramsden, warned: "The applicants rarely know what is in their business plan, cannot speak English, and have absolutely no knowledge or experience in the type of skills needed for respective businesses."