British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced growing pressure Wednesday to answer more questions about a "cash-for-honours" probe threatening his government, after a key ally was re-arrested over the row.
Blair's Downing Street office remained tight-lipped after the arrest Tuesday of Lord Michael Levy, Blair's Middle East envoy and chief fundraiser for his ruling Labour Party. But the British premier was expected to face a grilling over the party funding corruption probe at his weekly question-and-answer session with lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Blair is battling to prevent the affair overshadowing his final months in office - he is expected to stand down before September after 10 years in power. His woes were further exacerbated by a new slump in support for his Labour Party, with a fresh poll giving it 29 percent - down eight percent from last month - while opposition conservatives stood at 34 percent.
Lord Levy's re-arrest - he was first detained over the affair last July - came less than two weeks after the arrest of another key Blair aide, his director of government relations at Downing Street Ruth Turner.
Like her, Levy was arrested on suspicion of breaching the 1925 Act and perverting the course of justice and then released on bail, sparking talk of a Watergate-style cover-up of alleged illicit party funding. The so-called "cash-for-honours" probe was launched last March and has seen Blair and his entire cabinet interviewed by detectives.
It is seeking to establish if Blair's Labour party and other opposition parties illegally offered seats in Britain's unelected upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, in return for financial contributions. The practice is outlawed under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.
It is also considering whether there was any breach of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which requires donations and non-commercial loans to parties to be publicly declared. After Levy's new arrest Tuesday - which happened when he went to a police station for a pre-arranged interview - his office issued a statement saying he "completely denies any allegations of wrongdoing whatsoever."
There was no immediate word from Blair's office but the prime minister publicly backed 62-year-old Levy during a trip to the Middle East in December last year.
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