I nearly had a breakdown over exposé, says Blunkett

DAVID BLUNKETT said yesterday he came close to a breakdown after the News of the World hacked his voicemails and disclosed he was having an affair.

The former home secretary said it took two years to recover.

Mr Blunkett’s relationship with married lover Kimberly Quinn was revealed by the tabloid in 2004. The hacking trial heard that tapes of emotional phone messages in which the Labour politician told Mrs Quinn she was ‘breaking his heart’ were found in a News of the World safe.

Mr Blunkett told the BBC: ‘I can only put it this way: I came as close as anyone could ever come to having a breakdown without actually having one. I don’t know how I managed to continue doing the job in the way I did. I think it probably took me two years to really recover.’

He added: ‘It was devastating in terms of my life’s work. . . I can’t believe now how I managed to cope.’

Mr Blunkett, who announced last week he will stand down as an MP at the 2015 election, said: ‘You start to suspect someone has, to put it pejoratively, betrayed you. They believe you might have done it. It sours relationships to a terrible degree.’

He said he felt his privacy was breached again during the trial, when details of his affair were repeated. He urged Attorney General Dominic Grieve to consider a ‘light-touch review’ to ensure witnesses and victims do not have intimate information made public in court.