KEY POINTS:
The Prime Minister's spokesman Tom Kelly was plunged into the controversy over an alleged cover-up in Downing St after confirming Tony Blair had been interviewed a second time in the "loans for peerages" inquiry.
The police asked for a news blackout on their second interview with Blair which lasted 45 minutes and took place last Friday in Downing Street before he flew to Davos.
The news about the second police interview was withheld from the Cabinet, Kelly and his communications team at Number 10. It was known to only a tightly knit group of top aides within Downing Street.
However, it meant that for six days, Kelly was left in the invidious position of unwittingly misleading the press and public, and it inflicted further damage on Downing Street at a time when it is fighting accusations of a cover-up over the honours investigation.
Yesterday, Kelly faced accusations of misleading the media at a heated briefing with lobby journalists at Westminster and snapped: "I work bloody hard not to mislead this lobby. If you say so, I will see you in court."
- INDEPENDENT
