Neo-Labour Sleaze: Top Blairite quizzed by cops again

TONY Blair's close aide Ruth Turner was questioned a second time yesterday by cops probing the cash for honours scandal.

The senior Downing Street official was re-interviewed when she answered police bail after her arrest last month on suspicion of perverting justice.

She was also questioned over allegations of breaching the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act, before again being released on bail.

Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil, whose complaint last March sparked the investigation, said: "This is another dark day for Tony Blair and his administration.

"What would have seemed inconceivable a year ago, for the Specialist Crime Directorate to be interviewing those in Downing Street, is almost acceptable today. Blair's ship seems to be sinking and he is going to have to search for a life raft."

Miss Turner, 36, is known as the PM's "gatekeeper" and Mr Blair was furious when she was arrested in a dawn raid at her home in south London last month. He broke his silence over the lengthy investigation to leap to her defence, describing her as "a person of the highest integrity". Link