THE first resignation from Tony Blair's Cabinet came like a bolt from the blue. It was not preceded by the rumblings or informed leaks of resignations from previous Cabinets.

This is how Tony Blair said it would be, although he must have prayed that his insistence on quick confessions from errant ministers would never have become reality.

But it has, and the Government and former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies acted with commendable speed.

Having said that, we have only been given half the story.

At this stage no one is certain of what really took place on Clapham Common, now a seedy and run-down area of London and a well known meeting place for homosexual men.

It is hardly the sort of place one would expect to find a cabinet minister.

Therefore, it is difficult to understand why Tony Blair and his advisers chose not to give a full and frank statement on what happened.

They must know better than anyone that such tantalisingly worded official releases on a drama of this magnitude will only act as a spur to national newspapers.

Teams of reporters will be operating in top gear and every stone will be turned in their efforts to reveal what really happened on Clapham Common.

Surely Downing Street cannot believe that damage limitation can be achieved by only revealing half the facts. True, they have avoided a situation like the one which enveloped John Major's government after the indiscretions of David Mellor. That went on for weeks and dragged Mellor's long-suffering family through an unnecessary ordeal-by-tabloids.

But ministers cannot be so naive as to believe that Davies will be allowed to disappear back into the woodwork without further comment.

Davies himself seems to think so.

In a television interview last night he asked: "Isn't it enough to say that as a member of the Cabinet I am accepting that I was guilty of an error of misjudgement?"

The short answer to that is: No, it is not.

The public have a right to know all the facts surrounding the resignation of a cabinet minister and the sooner Davies accepts that the better.

Tony Blair promised us no cover ups and now that he has been put to the test he must keep his word.

And there is no doubt about Davies's candidature as First Minister in the Welsh Assembly. Surely he cannot proceed with this?

A man whose "serious lapse of judgement" leads to his resignation from the Cabinet should not be considered as leader of the Welsh Assembly.

And if Tony Blair's government is to keep its squeaky clean image, the public must be given the whole Clapham Common story.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.