BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair has been accused of "extraordinary complacency" after rejecting Conservative demands for an independent inquiry into his wife's links to Australian conman, Mr Peter Foster.
Following Mrs Blair's unprecedented statement admitting mistakes in the handling of her property investments and her association with the convicted fraudster, the Prime Minister paid an equally emotional tribute to his wife and declared his pride in her.
At the same time Number 10, ministers and senior Labour MPs turned their fire on sections of the media, and the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in particular, in a determined effort to draw a line under an affair which has badly damaged the government's reputation for trust.
However, at prime minister's question time in the Commons the Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith signalled his determination to press Mr Blair on still-unanswered questions, telling him bluntly that people did not believe the revised version of events. Without referring to Mrs Blair by name, Mr Duncan Smith asked Mr Blair if he was worried by the "loss of integrity" suffered by the Number 10 press office - this a reference to the fact that Mrs Blair originally misled the prime minister's official spokesmen about Mr Foster's involvement on her behalf in the purchase of two flats in Bristol.
And the Tory leader pressed for an independent inquiry which could address remaining questions about the operation of the so-called "blind trust" used for the purchase of the properties and any contacts between Downing Street officials and either the Home Office or Lord Chancellor's Office about the deportation proceedings against Mr Foster.
To Mr Duncan Smith's charge of persisting "half truths and evasions" 10 days after the original story broke, Mr Blair insisted that "all the questions have been properly answered". And in a move which delighted Labour MPs but might yet rebound on Number 10, Mr Blair mocked Mr Duncan Smith saying it was "absolutely typical" of him that "he dives into the swimming pool just as the water is running out."
Mr Blair's gambit reflects Number 10's belief that Mrs Blair's statement on Tuesday night marked the beginning of the end of the controversy. However, his official spokesman was last night still tying-up the loose ends over the matter of Mr Foster's suggestion that his accountant had waived fees to the tune of £4,000 in respect of the property transaction. There is still widespread disbelief at Westminster that Mrs Blair could have placed herself under such an obligation to a man she says she had met just once, and then only briefly.
The acceptance of such a gift would also have to be registered by Mr Blair in the Commons Register of Members' Interests.
Mr Blair's spokesman said: "Should there be a sum payable it would be considerably smaller that that [£4,000\] and would be paid for in the usual way." The rules governing blind trusts say that ministers should not be aware of, or involved in, acquisitions of disposals by the trusts, yet the Blairs' trust was used for the Bristol property purchases.
The cabinet secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull, said there had been no conflict of interests: "If the issue were the purchase of a significant portfolio of properties to rent then a conflict could arise but I do not think that on a common sense view the purchase of a single flat for rent [the other was for their son's use while at university\] materially compromises the ability of a minister to take decisions."