Honours police arrest Blair aide

The Cash for Honours scandal that has been swirling around the Blair government for the past few months took a decidedly serious turn today with the arrest of Downing Street political adviser Ruth Turner - the lady known as "Blair's gatekeeper".

She is the fourth person to be arrested concerning the scandal, but the reasons given for her arrest suggest things have suddenly turned very serious. She was arrested over cash for honours, which was to be expected. What is stunning is that she was also arrested on "suspicion of perverting the course of justice".

That implies that the police believe they have been lied to or misled at some point during the investigation.

Turner was first interviewed by police in September and Labour Party officials are admitting to being stunned by her arrest.

Blair is, of course, expressing his full confidence in Miss Turner, although his own position must be considered seriously undermined by this development.

For American readers not familiar with this story, Blair took secret loans from certain very rich individuals (in order to avoid having to declare their loans to Parliament) and a startling number of those persons went on to find themselves ennobled by Blair's government. In Britain, giving honours for money is illegal.

Blair has, so far, been hoping to rely on the fact that any linkage between the honours given and the cash donated is almost unprovable, although most of us think the sheer number of donors who went on to receive awards is certainly - in terms of percentage - extremely high. Blair has relied on the lawyers argument that giving cash should not exclude someone from receiving an award.

But then an email appeared that seemed to suggest that Lord Levy - a major fundraiser for the Labour Party who has already been arrested because of this affair - had a say in what awards certain people should receive. Levy had already made clear to police that he had no say in who received peerages. The discovery of the e-mail reportedly sent Downing Street into a panic:

The change of mood came as it was claimed that police had obtained a No10 'killer e-mail' which allegedly implicates Mr Blair's close ally and chief fundraiser, Lord Levy.

The e-mail, sent by Downing Street Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell, purportedly on the subject of honours, says: "ML (Michael Levy) will not be happy about this."

The suggestion is that the e-mail is the first piece of evidence that Lord Levy may have had a say in honours. Downing Street refused to comment on the e-mail.

If the fundraiser is being allowed to comment on what awards certain people receive then the prosecution would have a very strong case. Obviously, none of us know what the police have or don't have and we can only speculate from the little information the police are making public.

But the arrest of a top Blair aide on the suggestion that there has been an attempt to pervert the course of justice heightens the stakes considerably.

Opposition parties are sensing blood:

Angus MacNeill, the SNP MP who sparked the cash for honours probe, said: "I think it just underlines the seriousness of the situation facing Downing Street, something they haven't fully faced up to."

He said "water is now lapping around Tony Blair's neck" and he hoped Downing Street would not try and spin its way out of the situation.

To confirm the general sense of sleaziness pervading this entire case, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, - the man who declared the Iraq war legal whilst refusing to give any details of the reasoning which led to this decision - has refused to stand aside in the event of Blair being prosecuted. Meaning that he has the right to say whether any charges against Blair should proceed.

Considering the fact that he was appointed by Blair, and owes his entire position to Blair's government, one would think that he would have to excuse himself - as compromised - from any decision as to whether any possible charges against Blair should proceed to court.

He is refusing to do so.

None of us can predict whether or not this scandal will eventually ensnare Blair, but all of us can note that by retaining Goldsmith's veto, Blair is retaining the right to veto any charges made against him.

It has all the elements that promises a British Watergate. But, unlike Nixon, Blair has legal counsel who will do as he asks. It's scandalous.

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tag: Blair, cash for honours, arrest