The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has insisted that the law must be upheld in protecting the secret work of his government's security and intelligence services, writes Frank Millar, London Editor.
Mr Blair was speaking in the House of Commons in response to a Conservative challenge over the recent arrests of Sunday Times journalist Mr Liam Clarke and his wife, Ms Kathryn Johnston.
And Northern Ireland security minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, has responded to renewed pressure over the "Stakeknife" affair by insisting "wrong-doers" must be brought to justice, and that agents of the state dealing with covert human intelligence operations must conform to the guidelines established in statute by the Labour government.
During question time in the Commons, Mr Andrew Mackay MP, a former shadow Northern Ireland secretary, reflected widespread concerns about the manner of the arrest of Mr Clarke and Ms Johnston and their subsequent interrogation as part of the PSNI investigation into leaked transcripts of intercepted telephone conversations involving Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness.
Mr Mackay asked Mr BLair: "Are you really comfortable with armed police coming in the middle of the night to distinguished and responsible journalists' houses in Belfast, arresting them in front of their young child, breaking into their study and taking papers? Is this really what should be happening in our country today?"
Side-stepping the question of the PSNI conduct of the arrests, Mr Blair replied: "I am not going to comment on the individual circumstances because I do not know those circumstances myself.
"However, I do think it is extremely important that we enforce the law in every respect and it is particularly important, when we are dealing with highly sensitive security information, that we make sure that the law is properly upheld and that the ability to keep those issues secret is also upheld."
Mr Blair added: "I understand why newspapers and others will take a different view but I happen to think it is extremely important that the work that our security and police services do, when it is supposed to be secret, is indeed kept secret."
Earlier, during Northern Ireland questions, the SDLP MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, told Secretary of State Mr Paul Murphy that the "Stakeknife" affair had "seriously eradicated" trust among the people of Northern Ireland.
He said that "an appropriate and urgent" inquiry into the affair should extend to any question of British government involvement in it.