UNDER-FIRE David Blunkett has apologised to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw over comments that the Blackburn MP left the Home Office in a "giant mess."

Mr Blunkett took over as Home Secretary from Mr Straw in 2001 and a new biography of him has claimed he was strongly critical of his predecessor.

The remarks are included in a book by journalist Stephen Pollard, called David Blunkett, of which the first instalment of a serialisation appeared in the Daily Mail this week.

The book was originally going to be published in January but since Mr Blunkett's problems over his affair with married woman Kimberley Fortier and 'fast-tracked visa' allegations, the date has been brought forward to December 14.

Mr Pollard claimed that his book was based mainly on conversations with Sheffield MP Mr Blunkett but his quote to justify the comments came from an unnamed adviser to the Home Secretary.

The adviser said: "Nothing had prepared us for it. It was worse than any of us had imagined possible. "God alone knows what Jack did for four years. I am simply unable to comprehend how he could have left it how it was. It was a giant mess."

Mr Straw told the Evening Telegraph: "David has phoned me to say that those are not his views. They came from someone else. I have accepted his apology."

Mr Blunkett is also alleged to have accused Tony Blair of not liking to be "stood up to" and tolerating more from Gordon Brown than he ought.

He is alleged to have accused his successor as Education Secretary Charles Clarke of having gone soft.