Blair: Police interview not surprising
Friday, 15 December 2006 12:00 AM
Tony Blair has insisted it was "perfectly natural" and "not the slightest bit surprising" that he should be questioned by police over the cash for honours affair.
Yesterday, he met with Scotland Yard officials for two hours at Downing Street, in what is thought to be the first such questioning of a sitting prime minister in British history.
Mr Blair was not questioned under caution, which means it is highly unlikely he would be a suspect if any charges were eventually brought in the investigation.
And speaking to reporters in Brussels this morning, he played down his involvement in the inquiry, which is looking into whether political parties acted improperly in the way they nominated donors for seats in the House of Lords.
"This is a complaint that was made by the Scottish National Party (SNP) against me personally, in effect," Mr Blair said, referring to the complaint made last year about four of his nominations, which prompted the whole inquiry.
"And so it is not the slightest bit surprising or wrong that the police should come and want to talk to me.
"As again we said yesterday, the fact is the particular issues concerned were not about honours given by me as prime minister for people for public service. On the contrary they were given by me, nominated by me as party leader, for party service in the way that other party leaders are entitled to do.
"That is the basic distinction that lies at the heart of this and so I think it's perfectly natural the police should come and talk to me."
Scotland Yard officials are expected to present a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in January, which will detail whether they believe any charges should be brought. Three people have so far been arrested and 90 people interviewed in the probe.
Everyone involved denies any wrongdoing, and Tony Wright, the chairman of the public administration committee, said he now believed the inquiries should go no further.
He said the police investigation had been a "shock to the system" and was on the whole a "good one" because would result in changes in the way political parties were funded and had led to renewed efforts to finish the reform of the House of Lords.
But Mr Wright told Today: "I think the benefit from it has now been obtained and we know that we have to attend to the second chamber, we know we have to attend to party funding, these are both on the agenda."
He expressed doubt that charges could be brought in the case, noting that, as Downing Street pointed out yesterday, current laws meant "you can put whoever you want in the House of Lords - if you want to put donors in the House of Lords you can do".
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