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Mr. Blair's endless troubles

There was a rare moment in the House of Commons when Tony Blair, seldom at a loss for words, found himself nearly speechless. It happened when the Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond, not known for mincing words, sought to draw a parallel between the cash-for-peerages row and the Watergate scandal. Putting the boot in as hard as he could, he asked Mr. Blair: "The Prime Minister is known for his close association with President George W. Bush [and] given all that has befallen all of the Prime Minister's men and women in recent days, is not now the more relevant association with President Richard Milhous Nixon? Is there a cover-up in Downing Street?" As a hush fell, an ashen-faced Mr. Blair slowly rose to his feet, mumbled something to the effect that he could not possibly comment on an ongoing investigation, and sat down with the air of a beaten man. Minutes earlier, Tory leader David Cameron had taunted him: "Can't you see that it is time for you to go?" And all this even before it emerged that Mr. Blair had been questioned a second time by police over allegations that he nominated four businessmen for peerages in return for `secret' loans to the Labour Party's 2005 election fund. Downing Street was dragged deeper into the scandal after Ruth Turner, one of Mr. Blair's most trusted aides, was arrested on "suspicion of perverting the course of justice"; and Lord Levy, his personal friend and party's chief fund-raiser, was detained a second time. In plain words, police suspect a cover-up at the heart of Downing Street.

Meanwhile, the government remains embroiled in that other big scandal which has undermined its avowed commitment to fighting corruption — Mr. Blair's decision to stop a criminal investigation into allegations that the BAE Systems created a multi-million pound slush fund to bribe Saudi officials in the 1980s to win a defence deal. During a debate in the Lords, peers cutting across party lines rejected the Prime Minister's claim that the decision was prompted by "national security" considerations. Labour peer Lady Kennedy said the truth was that Mr. Blair was "anxious not to offend the Saudi princes, given the mess over Iraq." Although, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has denied that Downing Street "leaned" on him to advise dropping the inquiry, he remains under pressure to explain how the decision was reached. Calls are growing for Mr. Blair to advance his departure from No. 10. The longer he stays, the more damage he will do to the party and government. What a fall for a leader who for much of the past decade seemed invincible at the polls — and was expected to end his innings trailing clouds of glory.

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