Britain:The stakes have been dramatically raised for both Tony Blair and Scotland Yard in a public war of words over Friday's arrest of a senior Downing Street aide in the ongoing cash for honours investigation.
Amid reports of a Downing Street mole and police being forced to "hack" into Number 10 computers, police sources have accused senior Labour figures of putting officers under "undue pressure" and political critics of "scheming to discredit a very important inquiry".
While the police are now under greater pressure than ever to justify their conduct of the inquiry and deliver evidence, Labour politicians fear the affair could affect both the prime minister's planned timetable for departing Number 10 and the next general election.
There is renewed speculation that some Labour MPs will seek to force Mr Blair into an earlier-than-planned departure should police recommend charges against Downing Street "gatekeeper" Ruth Turner, or any other members of Mr Blair's inner circle, including chief of staff Jonathan Powell and director of political operations, John McTernon.
It was Ms Turner's early morning arrest on Friday that sparked the public exchanges between police and senior Labour figures, amid growing speculation that the police inquiry is now focused on a possible cover-up of the alleged linkage between secretly raised loans and the subsequent nomination of four Labour donors for peerages.
Ms Turner, like the other three people arrested so far in the nine-month inquiry, has strongly protested her innocence.
No charges have been laid so far against any of the 90 people interviewed by police, including former Conservative leader Michael Howard, in an investigation that has also extended to both main opposition parties.
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said she was "slightly bewildered" as to why Ms Turner's arrest had taken place in the early morning, while former home secretary David Blunkett said he wanted "thoroughness, not theatre" from the police.
Lord Puttnam, a friend of Ms Turner, also accused detectives of "theatrics" and challenged police to "put up or shut up".
Lord Puttnam reflected the exasperation of Blair loyalists who characterised Friday's arrest as "a last shake of the cage" in an inquiry they say has failed to unearth a so-called "smoking gun" while damaging the prime minister's reputation and with the potential, as Lord Puttnam said, to "affect the outcome of the next election".
However, Glen Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said such comments were "disturbing" and that many junior officers would feel their careers were being "subliminally" threatened.
"Frankly, what do they want as the legacy of this inquiry?" he demanded. "Do they want the legacy to be in people's minds that this was an inquiry that pulled its punches and didn't find out the truth?
"One is left with the distinct uneasy feeling that they are trying to influence this inquiry and encourage the police not to use their powers in the way they believe they should."
Sir Chris Fox, former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, also said the attacks from senior Labour figures were worrying as they appeared to be co-ordinated.
Accusing political critics of "scheming to discredit a very important inquiry", he said chief constables feared a potential threat to police independence.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Lord Thomas went further, suggesting a desire to see the police investigation halted.
Of Ms Turner's arrest, he said: "Once the police had formed a reasonable suspicion of her perverting the course of justice, as they must have, it was their duty to act swiftly and professionally to preserve any evidence."
He added: "This is commonplace, as any criminal lawyer knows. Pressure put upon the police by people in high places suggests that they want the investigation dropped."
In a sign of a government retreat on the issue yesterday the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, said his advice to ministers was to stay out of the dispute.
Yesterday's Sunday Telegraphreported that police conducting the investigation had used computer experts to obtain confidential information.
The News of the World, meanwhile, claimed a tip-off from "a Downing Street mole" led to Ms Turner's arrest and the "combing" of a Downing Street computer for potentially incriminating e-mails.
In an editorial, the Sunday Timesalso questioned why Mr Blair had spoken out following Ms Turner's arrest, when he had not done so after the arrest of his fundraiser Lord Levy.
"Was it that he feels an injustice is being done," the paper asked, "or is he just scared stiff that the investigation has got too close and too dangerous?"