JILL PARKIN
UK Daily Mail
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Prime Minister Tony Blair was questioned by cash-for-honours police as a witness for a second time last Friday, his official spokesman said today.

Mr Blair was questioned for less than an hour by officers, but Downing Street declined to discuss the contents of the conversation.

Police requested a news blackout on the interview, which was not lifted until today.

Downing Street said they did not know whether Mr Blair would face further questions, saying that was a matter entirely for the police.

It comes days after Lord Levy was rearrested over allegations that the Labour Party offered honours in return for huge donations to party funds.

The Prime Minister was not under caution and was not accompanied by a lawyer for Friday's interview, said his official spokesman.

The only people present were the Prime Minister himself, a Downing Street note taker and an unknown number of police officers.

The spokesman was unable to say how many police were present, whether they were uniformed or whether they included inquiry chief Assistant Commissioner John Yates.

Because the police requested that news of the interview should not be made public, members of the Downing Street press office team were not informed until late yesterday, when police said that the blackout could be lifted.

The spokesman declined to say whether anyone else in Downing Street was informed, saying only that the information was "kept extremely tight".

Mr Blair was previously interviewed by detectives in December, on the day he departed for a week-long tour of the Middle East.

Following Friday's interview, he left London for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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