Today's papers agree that Sir Alan Budd's failure to exonerate David Blunkett damages the former home secretary's chances of a swift political comeback.

Sir Alan found a "chain of events" linking Blunkett to the speeding up of the visa application of his ex-lover's nanny.

Former Treasury adviser Budd said there was no evidence of any attempt to cover up events surrounding the visa application of Blunkett’s ex-lover Kimberley Quinn.

However, he found the application was processed in 52 days - 120 days quicker than average.

Budd described that estimated difference as "the effect of the intervention" by Blunkett's office even though they had no roll in processing the application.

He concluded he was unable to discover if Blunkett had intervened directly in the application.

Budd added: "I have not been able to determine whether Mr Blunkett gave any instructions in relation to the case and, if so, what they were."

Blunkett said in a statement that he fully accepted Sir Alan's findings.