What was going on in Mumber 10?

A fascinating article in The Telegraph yesterday:

'Tony Blair and his former cabinet secretary face new questions over the “cash-for-honours” affair after fresh evidence emerged of a secret computer at 10 Downing Street. Damian McBride, who worked as a special adviser to Gordon Brown at Number 10 between 2007 and 2009, claimed he had been shown a “stand-alone computer through which No 10 staff could use personal email accounts”. This computer, understood to have been in a ground-floor room at No10, was run separately from the main Downing Street server, which blocked such accounts, Mr McBride said. He added that he had been told by officials: “We don’t discuss this publicly. We don’t want people going on about 'second Downing Street email systems’.” His account was in stark contrast to official denials given during the cash-for-honours investigation, which dogged the former prime minister’s last period in office. In 2006, Mr Blair’s government was accused of offering peerages and other honours to business leaders in return for substantial loans made to Labour before the 2005 general elections. As police investigated the matter, it was alleged that people working at No 10 had been able to circumvent the “normal” email system by using personal emails from a secret “second” system. Any such communications would have been outside the scope of the police inquiry into the affair, which saw several arrests, while Mr Blair was personally questioned by detectives as a witness. Responding to this suggestion, Lord O’Donnell told MPs on the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) in January 2007 that John Yates, the former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner who led the cash-for-honours case, had said he had received “excellent co-operation” from the Cabinet Office. Lord O’Donnell added: “We have had no complains from them [the police] about access. We have complied fully with any requests. The Prime Minister has made it clear to me, to ensure that we co-operate fully with the police, and that is what we have done. “There is no second email system inside No10.” When Mr Blair was asked by MPs about the Number 10 email system he referred his questioners to Lord O’Donnell’s testimony. A Tory MP who is a current member of the PASC said the new revelations raised “serious” concerns over the way Number 10 was run under Mr Blair in 2006 and 2007. Priti Patel said the matter needed to be raised again following the claims by Mr McBride, who resigned in 2009 after leaked emails from his No10 account revealed a smear campaign against leading Tories was being plotted. She told The Sunday Telegraph: “There is no doubt that this raises serious questions that have to be answered by both Tony Blair and Gus O’Donnell about what kind of operation they were running at No 10 during this particular time.” Although no charges were ever brought, the police investigation cast a shadow over Mr Blair’s final period in office and saw members of his inner circle arrested, including Lord Levy, Labour’s fundraiser, and Ruth Turner, the former prime minister’s political aide, who was held after a dawn raid on her London home. Mr Blair, who was last week appointed by Ed Miliband to a sports advisory role in what many saw as the first step towards a domestic political return, reveals the effect the affair had on him and his close aides in his 2010 autobiography A Journey. He describes it as “psychologically atrocious” and adding that the popularity both of himself and of his party “fell like an arrow” in its wake. A spokesperson for Mr Blair: “This doesn’t change anything. The matter was fully looked into at the time and we have nothing further to add.” Lord O’Donnell was unavailable for comment. A Whitehall source told The Sunday Telegraph: “There are stand alone terminals in some offices [in no 10] to allow press officers to access news and other sites that are blocked by the main system firewall. The same applies in other government departments.” '

A fascinating story that may shed light into what was happening inside Tony Blair's Number 10 before the shredders started whirring. The only problem is that it means I have to believe Damian McBride and that does go against my natural instincts. I am awaiting this story appearing on the BBC website...