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Blair questioned in peerages row

Hasan Suroor

First U.K. Premier in living memory to be involved in criminal investigation

Tony Blair

LONDON: With barely months to go for his planned retirement, Tony Blair has suffered the humiliation of becoming the first serving British Prime Minister in living memory to be questioned by police in a criminal investigation.

On Friday, two police officers quietly dropped in at 10, Downing Street, and spent nearly two hours "interviewing'' him in connection with their inquiry into allegations that he nominated four rich businessmen for peerages after they gave secret loans to the Labour Party on the eve of the 2005 general election.

However, Mr. Blair was not interviewed under caution, which means that he was treated as a witness rather than an accused in what has come to be known as the cash-for-peerages scandal.

Although, for weeks there had been speculation that he would be questioned by police, when the detectives knocked at No 10, the event went completely unnoticed as the national media's attention was focused on the release of the report on Princess Diana's death.

Taken by surprise

Journalists were taken by surprise when Mr. Blair's spokesman broke the news, prompting accusations that the "interview'' was deliberately timed in such a way as to avoid media attention.

The spokesman said Mr. Blair explained that he had made the nominations only in respect of those peerages reserved for party supporters, as other party leaders do.

"The nominations were, therefore, not honours for public service but expressly party peerages given for party service. In those circumstances the fact that they had supported the party financially could not conceivably be a barrier to their nomination,'' he said.

Favouritism charge

Nominations of four businessmen including two Asian industrialists — Ghulam Noon, the "curry king''; and Chai Patel, owner of Priory Clinics — were rejected by the House of Lords Committee on Peerages after it emerged that they had given secret loans to Labour's election fund. The allegation is that Mr. Blair and his close aides deliberately sought loans instead of straight donations to circumvent rules that require political parties to declare donations.

Loans taken at commercial rates need not be disclosed.

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