Tony Blair defends his record against honours scandal

Blair ‘not distracted’ by honours row

Blair ‘not distracted’ by honours row

Tony Blair has insisted he is not being distracted by the police investigation into cash-for-honours – but said he would not “plead” for his integrity.

He made history in December by becoming the first serving British prime minister to be interviewed by police.

And yesterday it emerged he was questioned for a second time last week by officers investigating allegations of corruption and perversion of justice.

In an interview this morning, less than 24 hours after the story broke, Mr Blair refused to comment on the probe until it had “run its course”, although he implied this would be within weeks.

But he insisted he has no intention of resigning over the row – arguing that quitting would be a “particularly wrong” thing to do before the investigation was concluded – and insisted he was getting on with the job of governing the country.

Conservative leader David Cameron has urged him to resign now, saying the row was interfering in government, but Mr Blair said today that although he understood it was “very distracting and somewhat obsessive for the media.it isn’t for me”.

And he told BBC Radio Four’s Today: “I’m not going to beg for my character in front of anyone.

“People can make up their mind about me according to what they think about me, but I know what type of person I am and I’m not going to get into a situation where I’m pleading for my integrity.”

He said: “I try and do my best, I’ve tried to do my best over the last ten years, I don’t say I’ve always got everything right – of course I haven’t, there have been mistakes along the way.

“But when I look back on my ten years I do believe that there’s a lot that’s been good for the country.”

Yesterday former Labour leader Lord Kinnock warned the Scotland Yard investigation was doing damage to the political process that would take years to repair, telling the BBC: “It’s nourished everybody who had reservations and doubts.

“It’s dismayed everybody who’s got a commitment – it doesn’t matter if they’ve got a party card of some kind or not, but just a commitment to the solidity, dependability, the integrity of British democracy.”

He said “the damage to reputation, to trust, the intangible but critically essential element in any democratic process – the damage to that will take years and a great deal of action to try and repair”.

Last night, constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman also said the police investigation had “ended trust” in the political process, and Labour party chairwoman Hazel Blears admitted it was having a “corrosive effect”.

“I do think the investigation has overshadowed much of what we have been doing. I want the investigation to be brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible,” Ms Blears told Newsnight.

She added: “Inevitably when you have this kind of thing going on for months and months it does have a corrosive effect.”

Lord Kinnock added that Mr Blair deserved to be “honoured in remembrance” but would, “have to wait years for the justified credit to be given to him”. He said he “deserves better than the circumstances in which inevitably he will depart”.