Blair's personal papers removed by police in cash-for-honours inquiry

By Andrew Pierce and George Jones

Last Updated: 2:19am GMT 08/03/2007

Tony Blair was thrust back into the centre of the cash-for-honours saga last night with the disclosure that detectives removed some of his papers from Downing Street about potential nominees for peerages. The Daily Telegraph can disclose that some of the documents seized by police also referred to Labour Party donors. Others related to conversations between Jonathan Powell, the Downing Street chief of staff, and Lord Levy, the Prime Minister's personal fund-raiser. One of the donors named is thought to be Sir Christopher Evans, the bioscience tycoon, whose loan of £1 million is being repaid by Labour. When detectives saw Mr Blair for the first time they questioned him at length about a reference in a notebook of Sir Christopher's in which he referred to talk of "a K [knighthood] or a big P [peerage]". The disclosure that police were examining some of Mr Blair's papers underlines why they interviewed him for a second time. The Prime Minister's official spokesman, when asked yesterday about the removal of the documents seen personally by Mr Blair, declined to comment. Last year Downing Street denied that a handwritten note by Mr Blair, acknowledging the efforts of 12 businessmen who secretly lent £14 million to the Labour Party, had been uncovered by the police investigation. advertisement Meanwhile, the parents of Ruth Turner, whose email about a meeting with Lord Levy last summer revealed that she believed his recollection of events to be "untrue", came to her defence yesterday. Marie Turner, who lives in Connecticut, told the Evening Standard of her frustration at being so far from her daughter when she needed her most. Mrs Turner said: ''It is unimaginable to think what she must be going through. She has nobody to talk to. As far as we know this is one of the stresses for her. We can only communicate by phone and that is not always satisfactory. That leaves her to carry a heavy stress on her shoulders alone. I presume you are never more alone than when you are sitting in a police station." Miss Turner, 35, who lives alone, was arrested in a dawn raid by four police officers in January on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Asked if her daughter was innocent, Mrs Turner replied: "She is above board, honest, and her integrity is beyond reproach. "We just have to sit tight and wait and see what comes out of all this. There just seem to be leaks and more leaks. I don't know who leaks but I just wish it wasn't happening." Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, yesterday dismissed suggestions that he had been acting on behalf of the Government when he issued an injunction against the BBC and tried to bar a national newspaper from reporting aspects of the Turner email. "The primary duty is to the law, never to political parties," he said on Radio 4's The World at One. "That is why I acted on Friday, not at the request of Downing Street, actually at the request of the Metropolitan Police - and they haven't been the best of friends recently - because of the risk to the administration of justice." Despite signs of growing tensions between Lord Levy and other members of Mr Blair's inner circle, No 10 continued to give public support to the fund-raiser. When Downing Street was pressed yesterday on whether he retained his Middle East envoy role, Mr Blair's spokesman said: "Lord Levy's position remains unchanged." A spokesman underlined anger at the continuing leaking of sensitive details of the investigation. "The Met Police have a job to do and we believe that they should be allowed to get on with the job without leaks, without speculation. We don't know where the leaks have come from, but whatever the source, they are unhelpful." Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 931 2921 or email syndication@telegraph.co.uk