Honours probe co-operation attacked

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates told MPs his inquiry had been treated as a "political problem" by some of those under scrutiny.

He also indicated Tony Blair's aides had warned him the then Prime Minister was prepared to resign if he was questioned as a suspect in the case.

Giving evidence to MPs investigating propriety in the honours system, Mr Yates outlined the immense pressure he was under as the lead detective in the controversial inquiry.

Asked by the Commons Public Administration Committee why the investigation had taken so long, Mr Yates said that some individuals had not co-operated fully.

Having set out to establish how the 2005 House of Lords appointments list was drawn up, he said it was not until January this year that his officers found out. He went on: "They thought we would ask questions, get answers and simply go away. That is not how police work."

Mr Yates said he always had the full co-operation of the Cabinet Office, but there were some people who were not so helpful.

He said: "I don't think people deliberately misled us, but I do think in retrospect and with hindsight we were treated as a political problem, not a criminal problem."

Asked who did not co-operate, he said: "Some parties co-operated in full throughout the inquiry. Some parties did not. I think it would be quite obvious to all people who that was."

Pressured as to whether Downing Street co-operated, he said he had learned that "Downing Street has a number of meanings".