Police told Blair would resign if cautioned

By Andrew Alderson and Patrick Hennessy, Sunday Telegraph

Last Updated: 12:53am GMT 25/03/2007

Police officers investigating the cash-for-honours scandal wanted to interview Tony Blair under caution but backed off after being warned that it could lead to his resignation, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Tony Blair was interviewed twice in six weeks Allies of Mr Blair indicated to Scotland Yard that his position as Prime Minister would become untenable if he were treated as a suspect, rather than simply as a witness. Detectives had hoped to question the Prime Minister under caution during the second of two interviews at No 10. It is understood that they wanted Mr Blair to clarify comments he had made during his first interview about an alleged cover-up by his senior aides. Sources close to the inquiry said that there were difficult discussions before a political intermediary made senior detectives aware of the serious implications of treating the Prime Minister as a suspect. "Make no mistake, Scotland Yard was informed that Mr Blair would resign as Prime Minister if he was interviewed under caution," said a source. "They were placed in a very difficult position indeed." Eventually, Downing Street won the battle of wills: when two officers saw the Prime Minister for a second time, on January 26, he was again not interviewed under caution. A news black-out was placed on the interview for "operational reasons" at the request of the police, but this was lifted after six days. Scotland Yard has, however, not ruled out interviewing Mr Blair for a third time if there is important new evidence to put to him. It is even possible that, as the inquiry drags on, Mr Blair could be interviewed - possibly as a suspect - after he steps down as Prime Minister in some three months. advertisement Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who heads the cash-for-honours inquiry, told MPs this month that it would be "unrealistic" to set a deadline for completing the investigation. He said that he could not be rushed because some evidence raised "complex and challenging legal issues". It can also be revealed that relations between Scotland Yard and Downing Street remain deeply strained. There were tensions over the first police interview with Mr Blair on December 14, which - unusually for a meeting not under caution - was tape recorded. Some days later, detectives sent minutes of the interview to Mr Blair's office to be "signed off" - for Downing Street to agree the typed notes were an accurate reflection of what had taken place. Downing Street refused to sign them off even when detectives reminded political aides that the interview had been recorded and they were merely supplying a transcript of events. More than three months after the interview, the issue remains unresolved. The restricted conditions of Mr Blair's second interview enabled No 10 to play down the significance of the police seeing him for the second time in only six weeks. A spokesman said at the time: "The Prime Minister has been interviewed briefly to clarify points emerging from the ongoing investigation. He was interviewed as a witness, not as a suspect and co-operated fully." The fact that Mr Blair has not been interviewed under caution means it is unlikely any of the answers he has given so far could be used against him to bring charges. Legal experts say any solicitor is likely to argue that evidence from a routine interview - not treating someone as a suspect - should be declared inadmissible by a judge. Detectives have spent a year looking into allegations that Labour promised peerages in return for £14 million in secret loans to fight the 2005 general election. The inquiry has widened to investigate claims that senior aides were involved in a cover-up in which they sought to pervert the course of justice. Officers have interviewed more than 100 people and arrested four, including two senior party aides: Lord Levy, Labour's chief fund-raiser, and Ruth Turner, the head of government relations. The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that the police are "highly surprised" that neither Miss Turner, 36, nor Lord Levy, 62, has been suspended from their positions given the seriousness of the cover-up accusations against them - even though they deny any wrongdoing, and no charges have been brought. Last night a spokesman for Mr Blair denied that he had been "going around saying he will resign if that happened [being interviewed under caution]. It is not true that such a message was conveyed to the police." He said of the delay in No 10's "signing off" the minutes of Mr Blair's interview: "Witness statements are being drawn up in the usual way."