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MAJOR ISSUES BULLETIN

Blair and his aides face new police quiz on 'cash for honours' scandal.

Stephen Wright and Kirsty Walker

Daily Mail, Monday, January 22, 2007

TONY BLAIR and his inner circle of advisers face fresh questioning by detectives over the cash for honours affair, it emerged last night.

Insiders believe it is 'highly likely' that the Prime Minister, his chief of staff Jonathan Powell and director of political relations John McTernan will need to be re-interviewed following the dawn arrest of his top aide Ruth Turner on Friday.

Officers wish to question them about new evidence which has emerged since they were first interviewed, according to prosecution sources.

It is also believed that Labour's chief fundraiser, Lord Levy, will be arrested for a third time before a file is sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

detectives are understood to have uncovered fresh evidence after hacking into Downing Street computers following a tip-off from a No 10 mole.

It came as a senior Cabinet Minister admitted that the affair was 'very, very serious' and revealed that insiders now fear that charges will be laid by police.

The unnamed minister told the Mail:

'This is very serious. I don't think anyone expects it will end without criminal charges being brought. It will get worse before it gets better. There is no doubt that the whole affair has been deeply damaging for the Labour Party and

WE ARE WORRIED '

After a weekend which saw a war of words between LABOUR and the POLICE

-ministers began to rein in their attacks after being accused of interfering in the INQUIRY.

David Blunkett who was among those to criticise

Scotland Yard's

[ so-called] 'heavy-handed' tactics acknowledged it was time for ministers to 'cool it' as Lord Falconer said politicians should 'stay out of it'.

Chief Superintendent Simon Humphrey chairman of the Met branch of the police Superintendent's Association said it was

'SCANDALOUS'

-that

POLITICIANS were interfering in the PROBE

Detectives, who are investigating claims that Labour 'sold' peerages to wealthy businessmen in return for cash are understood to have uncovered fresh evidence from computers.

A Downing Street mole is reported to have revealed that crucial emails between businessmen and officials were buried on No 10 computers. The information was a key factor in the decision to arrest Miss Turner at 6.30am on suspicion of

PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE.

Scotland Yard became suspicious that potentially vital information was being withheld after twice asking for emails, letters and other material related to the award of peerages to be handed over, but only receiving a 'very slim' file.

Computer experts were brought in to track down the highly-sensitive correspondence.

Downing Street insist police have been granted 'full access' al all times. Everyone interviewed has firmly denied any wrongdoing and nobody has been charged.

Meanwhile, police officers have accused Downing Street of a smear campaign against them.

David Blunkett, Tessa Jewell and the film-maker and labour peer Lord Puttnam have all claimed that the police actions in arresting Miss Turn were unnecessary and 'theatrical'. Mr Humphrey said:

'UNFORTUNATELY, it is not the FIRST TIME in this ten-month investigation that POLITICIANS have tried to influence the INVESTIGATION'

'The time has come for Downing Street and anonymous Labour spin doctors to keep quiet and let the police get on with their jobs. I am concerned that Downing Street is conducting a smear campaign to undermine Assistant Commissioner John Yates and his team.

'I have known John Yates for many years .For him to be challenged by politicians in privileged positions is scandalous.

Len Duvall, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority added that politicians should 'shut up' and stop whinging and whining'. He pointed out that Miss Jowell's husband David Mills is facing a long-running police inquiry into allegations of bribery in Italy.

Mr Duvall said:

'Others might say that Tessa Jowell ought to be very careful. Talk about glass houses and all the rest of it'.

Officers have not ruled out the possibility of re-interviewing the Prime Minister under caution - or further arrests -as the probe enters its final stages.

A source linked to the INQUIRY said:

'There were operational reasons for arresting Ruth Turner at home early in the morning. Officers wanted to take her by surprise and have an opportunity to search her home. Clearly it will be difficult to take other suspects by surprise as a result of her arrest -so anyone arrested in the coming weeks is likely to be given advance notice.'

Mr Blunkett said he was astonished' at some of the police reaction and admitted:

'I think it's time that we all cooled it,'

He told ITV's Sunday Edition 'Senior Officers knew perfectly well what kind of reaction was likely to occur by doing it this way.'

[Well we hope it frightened the living daylights out of the arrogant culprits in 10 Downing Street.. It must be the first time in almost ten years that they find themselves without a paddle to steer the police away on a fool's errand while their shredding machines were working overtime. At long last we have the satisfaction of seeing JUSTICE take it course in the one building in the land which considered itself above the

RULE OF LAW.]

Whitehall insiders said No10 is 'petrified' that Mr Powell -who has already been questioned -will be the next to be arrested.

In a further sign of panic within Labour, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer who is a close friend (and once a flatmate) of Mr Blair's warned colleagues to stop discussing the case in public.

'I think we should just stay out of it.'

-he told BBC1's Sunday AM.

The CPS is likely to rule on charges by the summer.

[ We hope in this instance that the good and thorough work of the police will not be ignored and that there can be no more rewards handed out in order to bury the prosecution case and that with the country and the world looking on that for once we will see that there is no hiding place even in the cockpit of the nation for the transgressors and that they will be in the stir before too long where they belong. ]

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JANUARY/07