BBC names Blair aides in banned funding report

Tue Mar 6, 2007 10:24 AM IST

LONDON (Reuters) - More details emerged on Monday of a "cash-for-honours" scandal that has dogged Tony Blair's last months as British prime minister when the BBC named two of his staff allegedly involved in an email exchange about it.

The British Broadcasting Corporation said the aides were connected to a story it has been banned by a court injunction from reporting about a police inquiry into a potential criminal cover-up at Blair's office.

Detectives have been investigating for the past year whether political parties nominated people for state honours in return for loans but are now also probing whether any Blair official sought to conceal evidence from police.

Blair, who is expected to step down by July after 10 years in office, has been questioned twice as a witness by police.

He has said that nobody in the Labour Party, to his knowledge, sold honours that bring with them seats in parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords.

A court blocked the BBC late on Friday from running a report about an internal email between "two members of Blair's inner circle" that it said could prove central to the cover-up inquiry.

Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith obtained the injunction at the request of police. Officers argued information in the story could jeopardise their inquiries.

The injunction was amended on Monday, allowing the BBC to report that the email was from Ruth Turner, director of government relations in Blair's office, to Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff.

The message concerned Blair's chief fundraiser and Middle East envoy Lord Michael Levy, the BBC said. The broadcaster was still barred from revealing the contents of the email.

Blair's spokesman contested the BBC report. "This story is not accurate because we dispute this version of events," he said, declining to specify which aspect of the story he was disputing.

Levy was arrested in January on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and Turner the same month on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, but both were released without charge.

The injunction against the BBC sparked speculation among politicians and lawyers that officers were planning to bring charges against one or more people and that police could be on the verge of wrapping up their probe.