 After the 2001 general election he was promoted to Home Secretary, a position he held until 2004, when he resigned following publicity about his personal life.After the 2005 general election, he was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, though he resigned from that role later that year following media coverage relating to external business interests in the period when he did not hold a cabinet post.The Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell exonerated him from any wrongdoing in his letter of 25 November 2005.