TONY Blair is to be quizzed by MPs over allegations peerages were offered in return for donations to political parties, in a clear sign the "cash for honours" saga will rumble on.
Senior members of the influential Commons committee running its own inquiry into the affair have confirmed they will call the former Prime Minister for questioning.
And the Scotland Yard detective who led the 16-month criminal inquiry into the ca
se appears reluctant to back down, despite the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) not to press charges.
A government source said Assistant Commissioner John Yates wanted to "spill his guts" over the affair, and intended to "name and shame" witnesses, some of whom he believes were uncooperative.
The pressure on Blair increased last night as First Minister Alex Salmond entered the row, accusing the former Prime Minister of being "in denial" over the affair.
The developments appear to quash hopes in Labour circles that last week's decision by the CPS to drop the case would bring an end to the highly-damaging affair.
Blair now faces a more searching public appraisal of his role in the award of honours when he is summoned before the Public Administration Committee.
The committee, which has already grilled Labour's chief fundraiser Lord Levy, suspended its inquiry into "propriety and honours" after Yates asked them to hold off until he had completed his own investigation. They now plan to reactivate the probe immediately.
One committee member said: "There is a prima facie case for him [Blair] to appear - given his intimate involvement in the honours system recently and the changes he made to it to it."
Scotland Yard is privately believed to be disappointed at the cautious attitude of the CPS, with some senior Metropolitan Police figures accusing it of lacking the courage to support a prosecution in such high-profile circumstances.
"The [PAC] inquiry is the best chance Yates has left of putting his case in public," one committee member said last night.
Yates' team is believed to have recommended that at least three people should be charged under a 1925 law preventing the sale of honours, or for perverting the course of justice.
"He believes that, at the very least, there was a case to answer over the laxity in the operation of the rules," a government source added.
Blair welcomed the decision of the CPS on Friday, and claimed that the entire affair had been the result of an "invidious" complaint by the SNP. The affair was sparked after Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil wrote to the Metropolitan Police asking them to investigate whether any laws had been broken.
Blair's claim provoked the first comment from First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday. The SNP leader claimed Blair was "in denial about his role and his own downfall".
He said: "There is hardly a single person in the palace of Westminster who would not freely concede that throughout the London-based parties, there has been a political culture which allowed a relationship between financial donations and nominations for honours.
"That is unacceptable and one of the results of this police inquiry and the Commons investigations that will follow is that it will now come to an end. That progress alone is well worth the discomfiture of the former Prime Minister."
However, Labour peer Lord Foulkes said: "This was a vexatious complaint by the SNP and the way they are now pursuing it smacks of a vendetta."
The full article contains 584 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
