Voters want Blair in the dock over loan scandal

Tony Blair should face criminal charges over the “cash for honours” scandal if Scotland Yard’s investigation finds that Labour broke the law, voters believe.

A survey for The Sunday Telegraph shows that 54 per cent of those polled believe seats in the House of Lords were offered in return for secret loans or donations to Labour, or for funding of the Government’s City Academies programme. Only 28 per cent believe they were not.

At the same time, 53 per cent of voters believe the Prime Minister should be prosecuted if the Metropolitan Police investigation finds that Labour acted illegally over the loans affair. Thirty-six per cent say he should not face charges.

The ICM poll’s findings come as the police inquiry into the affair, under Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates, is understood to be focusing strongly on Downing Street.

Officials inside No 10 are said to fear that detectives are concentrating their inquiries on two of the Prime Minister’s closest aides.

They are Ruth Turner and John McTernan, both of whom have been named as possible go-betweens in a bizarre mission to obtain crucial signatures from Ian McCartney, the former Labour Party chairman, as he lay ill in hospital.

“No 10 is very worried about John and Ruth,” a senior Whitehall source said last night. “Strenuous efforts are going on to downplay their role and protect them.”

Last week, MPs suspended their own investigation into the affair after hearing from Mr Yates that planned televised questioning of key figures such as Lord Levy, Mr Blair’s personal fund-raiser, may compromise his inquiries. Lord Levy has raised millions of pounds for the party.

The police investigation is expected to last well into the autumn - and possibly will not be complete until the end of the year.

The committee had already taken evidence from members of the watchdog that vets nominations for peers and from Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary. Lord Stevenson, who chairs the House of Lords Appointments Commission, revealed that it had been kept in the dark over the fact that some nominees had made loans.

The exact roles played by Ms Turner and Mr McTernan are coming under increasing scrutiny as detectives look for a “paper trail” at No 10.

They are concentrating their inquiries on the £14 million of secret loans obtained by Labour last year. The money went to fund the 2005 election campaign, which cost £18 million and included an array of sophisticated polling techniques.

Of those who agreed to lend the party money, four were subsequently nominated by Mr Blair for a peerage. Dr Chai Patel, Sir David Garrard, Barry Townsley and Sir Gulam Noon lent a total of £5 million. All their nominations were later blocked by the appointments commission.

Police are believed to have spoken to Mr Townsley, a stockbroker, Mr Patel, the head of the Priory clinics, and Sir David, a property magnate. None is thought to have been interviewed under caution.

Mr McCartney, as Labour chairman, was asked while he was in hospital between two life-threatening bouts of heart surgery to sign certificates stating that Labour’s nominees had no hidden financial links to the party.

He signed the forms - only to discover later that all four had loaned Labour money.

Mr McTernan, the Prime Minister’s deputy chief of staff, and Ms Turner, his head of government relations, emerged as the likely brokers in a deal that exposed the Government to sleaze allegations.

Both are said to have visited Mr McCartney in October 2005 at Withington Hospital, in Manchester.

In March, Jack Dromey, the Labour treasurer, sparked the furore by declaring he had not know about the secret loans. He faces censure by his union, the Transport and General Workers Union, for blowing the whistle on the affair.

An anti-corruption Bill with cross-party support will have its first Commons debate on Tuesday.

The object of the Bill, which was drafted by Transparency International UK, is to reform the law on bribery so it can be more readily understood by police, prosecutors, business and the public, the organisation said.

• ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,004 adults by telephone on May 17 and 18.

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.