`Compromising position' photos

London - The Labour government was embroiled in fresh allegations of sleaze yesterday after it was revealed that the former paymaster general, Mr Geoffrey Robinson, has pictures of a cabinet minister in a "compromising position". Mr Robinson, who resigned from the government last year, is reported to have told friends that he is using the pictures to ward off allies of Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, who he believes are keen for him to water down his forthcoming memoirs. The photographs allegedly show a minister in an embrace with a younger person.