McTernan Squeals Like a Piglet?

One of my Sunday pleasures is reading the News of the World. But just in case your newspaper reading tastes aren't the same as mine I thought I would summarise the Faria Alam is a Hooker story story alleging that John McTernan has squealed like a piglet on Cash for Peerages...

Shock admissions by one of Tony Blair's closest aides are set to lead to three people being charged in the Cash For Honours scandal. The News of the World can reveal that the Prime Minister's political secretary John McTernan "started the dominos falling" when quizzed by cops. These dominos are expected to come crashing down around Blair, who yesterday pleaded with the Labour Party to be allowed to stay on in Downing Street. We can reveal:

*THE new evidence led to two arrests and Mr Blair being questioned by detectives.
* NOW three people, including two of the PM's closest aides, the Prime Minister's fundraiser Lord Levy and his head of government relations Ruth Turner, are set to be charged.
* SUBSTANTIAL new evidence, including McTernan's diaries, has now been disclosed to the Crown Prosecution Service.
* MR BLAIR may now be questioned again, possibly even under caution, after he failed to give
satisfactory answers to police.

Sources at the Crown Prosecution Service say they think police now have enough evidence to bring charges. Lord Levy faces two, abuse of honours and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Miss Turner can expect to be charged with Perverting the Course of Justice. And Sir
Christopher Evans, the millionaire who lent Labour £1million in May 2005, faces a charge under the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuse) Act. And last night CPS sources said they think the Prime Minister will be questioned again, a third time, possibly under caution. Downing Street aides have been warned the worse case scenario is possible within the next few weeks. In his police interview the PM told detectives he would "get back to them" with answers to key questions.

CPS sources say the police are unhappy with the incomplete answers they were given. The Crown Prosecution Service have now spent 11 months working with detectives investigating the affair. Now they believe enough evidence has been amassed to make charges stick. It was the McTernan breakthrough that led to Miss Turner and then Lord Levy being arrested in the past two weeks. In between those arrests Mr Blair was secretly quizzed at No 10. The new developments came after the News of the World revealed that a mole at the heart of Downing Street told of secretly deleted emails and memos that proved at least two people had been lying to police — that mole was McTernan. He also told police about meetings concerning Labour donors who had been offered peerages. Miss Turner and Lord Levy had previously denied the existence of this
sensational evidence. But McTernan said the emails were between him and Turner.

Detectives have also examined the diaries of McTernan and other Downing Street aides which prove secret meetings took place. McTernan's diary is understood to have revealed at least one meeting about rewarding "high value" donors. After denials that the emails existed, police trawled the Downing Street server and found they had been secretly deleted. The emails
discussed a meeting on how to reward "prominent supporters of the Labour Party". That meeting was between Lord Levy and Tony Blair and his chief of staff Jonathan Powell. It is now at the centre of the police inquiry. The CPS have also been shown evidence that TURNER may have deleted the emails discussing the meeting. Both Lord Levy and Miss Turner have been interviewed under caution about whether they had tried to avoid telling the police the whole
story

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If this is true - and my gut feeling is that there is something in it - then there will be a few people needing a change of underpants in Number Ten this morning. And John McTernan can say goodbye to the safe Labour seat he was expecting at the next election.