Blair's lawyers fail to gag report on funding probe

[Judi Lynn]

Blair's lawyers fail to gag report on funding probe
By Kate Kelland
Reuters

Mar 6, 2007 — LONDON (Reuters) - Lawyers for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government failed to stop the publication on Tuesday of a newspaper story about a possible cover-up in an investigation into political party funding.

In a further embarrassment to Blair, who has struggled to dispel the scent of a funding scandal in his final months in office, a High Court judge refused to grant an injunction to Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, who had applied for a gag on The Guardian newspaper at the request of the police.

After Goldsmith's legal challenge failed, the Guardian ran a front page story suggesting some of Blair's closest aides may have attempted to influence evidence given to police leading an investigation into party political funding.

Detectives have been investigating for the past year whether political parties nominated people for state honors in return for loans but are now also probing whether any Blair official sought to conceal evidence from police.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2926761