Blunkett clings on for survival

The third job is with a group that is seeking a 46 million government contract.

As Labour MPs expressed increasing anger over Mr Blunkett's ability to spark controversy, there was even the prospect of a rift with Tony Blair, as Downing Street said the minister had made "mistakes" but Mr Blunkett insisted: "I have done nothing wrong."

Mr Blunkett, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has been left clinging to his job by revelations about his business activities in the months between his resignation as Home Secretary last December and his return to government in May.

The minister has already been forced to sell a 15,000 shareholding in DNA Bioscience, a biotechnology firm that plans to bid for contracts awarded by his own Department of Work and Pensions.

That humiliation followed Mr Blunkett's admission over the weekend that he had not followed ministerial rules about outside jobs when he agreed to work for DNA Bioscience or management consultancy Indepen.

Under the Ministerial Code of Conduct, ministers who leave the government are supposed to seek the approval of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACBA) about any commercial work they take on, in order to avoid any appearance of conflicts of interest.

Yesterday, it was revealed that he also failed to seek the committee's blessing for a third job, advising the Organisation for Research and Technology (ORT).

In his entry in parliament's register of members' interests, Mr Blunkett describes ORT as an international charity and says it paid him between 15,000 and 20,000. On ORT's website, the group says it plans to open Britain's first "inclusive" Jewish secondary school. The plan is "subject to government approval of the 46 million grant application in September".

Mr Blunkett's defenders say all three instances of his failure to seek approval for his jobs stem from his failure to comprehend the meaning of a letter he was sent by Lord Mayhew, chairman of the ACBA.

The minister's accusers, however, say the rules affecting former ministers are clear and Mr Blunkett should have known what was required. In all, Lord Mayhew wrote to Mr Blunkett three times.

Sir Alistair Graham, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, yesterday said that Mr Blunkett had "undoubtedly" broken ministerial rules.

Chris Grayling, the shadow leader of the Commons who has led the questions over Mr Blunkett's conduct, yesterday wrote to Mr Blair in protest at the latest revelations. "This is getting beyond a joke," Mr Grayling said. "Tony Blair cannot claim the ministerial code is important and fail to act over these breaches."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman last night defended Mr Blunkett, but added: "David Blunkett recognised that he had made a mistake in his interpretation of the rules."

However, in an interview with his local paper in Sheffield, Mr Blunkett said: "I have done nothing wrong at any stage. I have been transparent about everything I have done."

Consultants won DTI contract weeks after he left

THE consultancy firm that employed David Blunkett won a government contract only weeks after the minister stopped working for the company and returned to the cabinet.

Between January and April, Indepen Consulting paid Mr Blunkett up to 10,000 to advise "on the relationship between government and business".

The Scotsman can reveal that in the weeks after Mr Blunkett returned to office, his former firm won a contract from the Department of Trade and Industry

Mr Blunkett - who denies all wrongdoing - stopped working for Indepen in April at the start of the general election campaign and returned to the cabinet in May. Indepen Consulting was commissioned by the Department of Trade to prepare a study of the European economy for a conference held in London in September.

According to the company, talks over the contract began informally "in the spring" and the deal was signed in June.

Indepen yesterday said that there was no relationship between Mr Blunkett's advice and the contract.