BLAIR QUESTIONED BY POLICE

Tony Blair has made history as the first British Prime Minister to be questioned by police over the 'Cash for honours' corruption scandal.

The Daily Telegraph (22 Dec 2006) reports:

Detectives questioned Tony Blair at length in No 10 last week over a diary entry by one of the businessmen at the centre of the cash for honours investigation.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the diary note was made by Sir Christopher Evans, the biotechnology entrepreneur, who is the only one of the 12 businessmen who secretly lent the Labour Party £14 million to have been arrested in the nine-month inquiry.

The diary, in the form of extensive hand-written note, refers to Sir Christopher's contacts with a number of Labour luminaries, and mentions Lord Levy, the Prime Minister's personal fund-raiser, at least once. The notes chronicle all his contacts and discussions over his financial support for Labour.

The diary entry, which formed a key part of the police questioning of Mr Blair, is becoming critical to the investigation. One authoritative source said: "Evans's diary was the key piece of information they wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about."
There is a question mark over the admissibility of diary entries in any court case which is why the police are planning to re-interview a number of the main players at No 10, such as Lord Levy.

Mr Blair was also quizzed at length about the four businessmen he nominated for peerages who had made loans totalling £5 million to Labour. All four nominations were blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, triggered the investigation.
A spokesman for Sir Christopher, who made a confidential £1 million loan to the party, said: "There is no record in the notes of any offer of any honour in return for financial support. It simply did not happen. No such offer was ever made to Sir Christopher Evans by anyone connected to the Labour Party."

Lord Levy, who was also arrested when he was first seen by the police, will be questioned again by detectives for the third time in the New Year. The peer, who is the Prime Minister's Middle East envoy and was with him in Israel this week, has confirmed that he was aware of the honours list but denied proposing any names or offering any peerages or knighthoods. Among the people who will be questioned again by the police are Ruth Turner, Downing Street's director of government relations, and John McTernan, the director of political relations, who helped to draw up potential lists of working peers.
In 2005 both visited Ian McCartney, the then party chairman, in hospital to ask him to sign nomination forms for four financial backers who had been put forward by Mr Blair for peerages which were subsequently blocked.

The revelation that the police repeatedly questioned Mr Blair about the diary came amid reports that the police investigation has caused serious strains within the Prime Minister's inner circle. There is talk at Westminster of growing tension between Jonathan Powell, who is Mr Blair's chief of staff and longest serving adviser, and Lord Levy. It follows a spate of reports at the weekend that the inquiry was now focusing on any role that Mr Powell might have had in the awarding of peerages.

Mr Powell, who remains close to the Prime Minister, regards any suggestion that he is deeply embroiled in the loans affair as a smear.