Blair goes fishing with Bermuda lawyer

The Prime Minister took a four-hour expedition on 30ft motor yacht Knot Guilty, owned by Justin Williams, whose clients include a major bank.

Mr Blair took the trip while his wife Cherie and their children were given a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Centre, 120 miles from the Miami home of Bee Gee singer Robin Gibb, where the Prime Minister and his family were staying.

Mr Williams, 41, was first linked to the Prime Minister in 2004, when a snappily-dressed Mr Blair was sighted on the bow of a luxury cabin cruiser owned by the lawyer as he holidayed in Bermuda with Cherie and three of their children.

The friendship between the two men has prompted speculation in Bermuda, where Mr Williams's clients include one of the tax haven's booming banks, Capital G, which is involved in mortgage lending as well as services to the international insurance industry.

When asked if he hosted the Prime Minister's Florida angling expedition, Mr Williams said: "Yes." And questioned about the nature of his friendship with Mr Blair, he said: "I want to be as polite as possible and that's probably not something I ought to be commenting on."

He then said he was busy making an airline reservation and asked us to call back later with any further questions.

When we did so, he said he had not intended to confirm that he treated the Prime Minister to his expedition. "I didn't say...you must have made a mistake. I can neither confirm nor deny that."

Asked whether the trip was for business or pleasure, he said: "I am able to neither confirm or deny that." He gave a similar response when asked to identify his clients.

The disclosure that Mr Blair and Mr Williams enjoyed an outing together will inevitably prompt speculation that the Prime Minister and his wife are considering the purchase of a Caribbean holiday home.

Eyewitnesses claim that when Mr Blair arrived at Soverel Harbour in the millionaires' playground of Palm Beach for his trip aboard the Knot Guilty, he was flanked by a team of US secret service agents as well as his four regular Scotland Yard protection officers and a cavalcade of conspicuously-armed Florida police officers.

Several agents donned scuba-diving gear to check security around the dock where the yacht was anchored.

A local businessman, Frank Gerardi, said: "There were secret service guys everywhere. In the water, on the roofs."

When the Prime Minister finally disembarked, the patrons at a marina cigar bar started clapping.

Mr Gerardi said: "I said, 'Welcome to America's best friend', and someone else said, 'Thanks for all your support', and he seemed to like that.

"He was very casually dressed and seemed totally at ease. He said he was having a relaxing vacation."

The owner of the cigar bar, Edmund Prusis, sought permission from the security squad to present Mr Blair with a £65 box of Zino Davidoff cigars.

Mr Prusis said: "I asked if I could present him with a box of our finest cigars and they agreed I could. They took the box into the back of one of their vehicles and seemed to be pulling it apart and making sure it was what I said it was.

"I was told not to move when Mr Blair got off the boat so that's what I did. When I handed Mr Blair the cigars, he smiled. He's obviously a connoisseur as he recognised them straight away. He seemed to know they're the cream of the crop."

Two days later, on New Year's Eve, the Prime Minister and his wife returned to Palm Beach, to attend Mass at St Edward's Church. After the service, they visited one of the city's most elite clubs, the PGA National Resort and Spa, for brunch.

Last night a spokesman for No 10 said: "Cherie knows Justin as a colleague through the legal profession. No business was discussed."