THE BRITISH Labour Party leader, Mr Tony Blair, was embroiled in a row last night as sceptics dismissed rumours of his imminent conversion to Rome, and the church advised him to stop taking communion when he worships with his Roman Catholic wife and family.
A Catholic media office spokesman said there was no reason why the Labour leader should not worship with his family. It was "desirable that he should." However, the official position was clear. "So far as receiving Holy Communion is concerned, the church's rules do not normally permit non-Catholics to receive Holy Communion."
The statement came amid something of a furore prompted by the revelation that Mr Blair has taken the sacrament at St Joan of Arc Church in Highbury, north London. Church rules say non-Catholics may not receive communion unless in danger of death or where they have no access to their own ministers.
A Catholic spokeswoman said "The reality is that taking communion in the Catholic Church is widespread. Many people are not aware they are not allowed to do it, or their faith prevents them from taking Communion in other faiths' churches.
"When an Anglican takes communion, they see it in a different way. Priests are put in a difficult situation. They may be perfectly happy with the arrangement because it is good for the family to worship together."
It is understood Mr Blair who describes himself as an ecumenical Christian has taken communion regularly at St Joan's over the past five or six years. Reports yesterday suggested the parish priest was unhappy with a situation he had inherited.
A spokeswoman for Mr Blair said this was "a private matter". Suggestions that Mr Blair was about to convert were "untrue". The Labour leader attends Anglican churches, particularly in his Sedgefield constituency, but also likes to worship with his family.
He had taken communion "from time to time" at St Joan's. However "if taking communion causes a problem for the Catholic Church, he will happily refrain from doing so.
While the current issue of the Catholic paper, the Universe, speculates that Mr Blair might be contemplating conversion, Mr Clifford Longley, acting editor of the Table said the Labour leader's behaviour had been an open secret for years. If anything, he said, it proved Mr Blair was a convinced Anglican, for whom the rules and regulations of the Catholic Church could be overridden.
Mar Longley said. "I will believe that Blair is about to become a Catholic if he stops receiving Communion. That would mean he was taking the rules seriously."
Meanwhile a recent convert to the Roman Catholic Church, the Home Office minister, Ms Ann Widdecombe, was determined Mr Blair could not have the best of both worlds.
"Anybody who actually takes the sacrament and who is not a Catholic is embarrassing the priest, because the priest will know he does not have the entitlement to the sacrament but cannot refuse him if he asks," she said.