Triple scam lands Blair's party in crisis

London, Apr 28 (UNI) It is being termed as Black Wednesday, a sex scandal, a public humiliation, a Home Office bungle, and apologies in triplicate.

It was one of New Labour's toughest 24 hours, which has left question marks over the future of three of Prime Minister's Tony Blair's most senior ministers.

Mr Blair is faced with a triple whammy, controversies surrounding John Prescott, Patricia Hewitt and Charles Clarke. Last night, Mr Blair was thrown on to the defensive at Prime Minister's questions, with his greatest discomfort over the release of 1,023 foreign criminals from British jails, 288 of whom were set free after the Home Office was warned that there was a problem.

Labour MPs today expressed concern that the disclosure, the job cuts in the National Health Service, and the ''cash for peerages'' scandal would harm the party's prospects in the council elections in England a week today. They also warned that if Mr Blair did not ''get a grip'' immediately, he would have to step down ''sooner rather than later.'' Mr Blair's day went from bad to worse. His preparations yesterday morning for his weekly joust with David Cameron at noon were interrupted by the disclosure in the Daily Mirror that John Prescott had a two-year affair with a civil servant working in his private office.

The Prime Minister was said to be ''relaxed'' about Mr Prescott's former relationship with Tracey Temple, his 43-year-old diary secretary, with whom he was pictured cuddling and dancing at an office party and attending a memorial service for British troops killed in Iraq.

Mr Prescott, 67, faces accusations of hypocrisy after ridiculing the Tories over their sexual peccadilloes during John Major's government.

Yesterday, the tables were turned as MPs in all parties wondered whether the Blair administration had now reached the ''tipping point'' that the Tories hit on Black Wednesday in 1992 - and was beyond recovery. Tory MPs could not help but relish what they called ''Labour sleaze''. One Labour MP admitted : ''They used to say Tory scandals were about sex and Labour ones about money. Now we seem to be managing both.'' UNI XC SB KD PM1215