The Opposition United Bermuda Party is right to be demanding more answers on the Patrice Minors affair.

There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the fact that her father, Kingsley Francis, received a home at Ferguson Park when he was being moved out of Anchorage Road in St. George?s, but it has not been fully made yet, at least not by Mrs. Minors.

The issue here is similar to the scandal in which British Home Secretary David Blunkett has found himself embroiled in the United Kingdom.

In that case, Mr. Blunkett is accused of using his influence to fast track an immigration application for the nanny of his mistress. Not so, says Mr. Blunkett. He merely delivered the application to the Home Office which he also runs.

It would appear that the British civil servants then jumped to process the application in 19 days when it can take up to a year.

It would seem Mr. Blunkett did nothing illegal. But his critics argue that he should have known he would receive favourable treatment if he took a personal interest in the case.

The core issue confronting Mrs. Minors is similar.

Having claimed she did nothing to advance her father?s case, with her next breath Mrs. Minors said she had phoned the Minister of Housing, the general manager of the Bermuda Housing Corporation and had also sent an e-mail to the BHC, stating that Mr. Francis was still awaiting news on where he was going to be relocated.

Mrs. Minors should know that when a Minister speaks, people tend to jump.

It can be argued that Mrs. Minors was contacting the BHC as a private citizen. But Ministers are Ministers at all times; they don?t stop at 5 p.m. or on weekends. And few private citizens get the kind of access to Ministers and department heads that Mrs. Minors seems to have had.

It is highly likely that there is a long waiting list for spots at Ferguson Park and other Bermuda Housing Trust properties, and Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent needs to say how long the list is and why Mrs. Minors? father was jumped up.

Apparently, people can be moved to the head of the list in emergency situations and since the Minister?s father was facing eviction, it may be that he would have qualified. But Mr. DeVent needs to make clear what the criteria for an emergency is. Even if Mrs. Minors? father did qualify, the irony that the emergency was of the BHC?s own making is inescapable.

Mr. DeVent has said that other Anchorage Road senior citizens were also shown Ferguson Park and turned down the accommodation there. This strengthens the argument that Mr. Francis was not given favourable treatment.

Still, it does not answer the issue of different tenants at Anchorage Road getting different qualities of accommodation. Ferguson Park was only opened in 2001 when it was described ?as a a completely new thrust to community living for seniors?.

That?s fine; all senior citizens deserve to live in dignity. But many other former Anchorage Road tenants are complaining that they have been moved to poor accommodation and families have been split up.

That adds strength to the argument that Mrs. Minors? father got preferential treatment. Mrs. Minors has tried to claim that the media is to blame for this saga by publicising statements that were made in the House of Assembly. Somehow, the fact that she is in the late stages of pregnancy made this worse. By contrast, Mr. Blunkett has asked for an independent inquiry, which is now underway.

This ?scandal? is a long way from Watergate. But it raises questions about the use of influence and Government ethics that have not been full answered. They need to be.