Home Secretary Blunkett in Majorca

Home Secretary David Blunkett is in Majorca studying wide ranging anti-terrorism policies which the Blair government could introduce as a result of the September 11 attacks. He arrived in Majorca on an easyJet flight on Wednesday night from Luton. Passengers at Palma airport were told to wait in their seats until he had exited the aircraft. A car collected him from the steps of the plane. The Home Secretary is believed to be staying in a rented villa in the north of the island with some of his key aides. “He has come to Majorca to clear his head and focus on key issues. He usually goes to his constituency in Sheffield but this time he has decided to go to Majorca,” said a British government source last night. It was unclear last night how long he would be staying on the island. Tough new laws are being considered by Blunkett and his team but some claim that they break civil liberties. He has been criticised in some quarters, and the Bulletin's Ray Fleming wrote in Saturday's paper that “there is an insidious authoritarianism at large in the British government - and I regret to say that David Blunkett is at the heart of it.”