The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, adamantly resisted pressure yesterday to sack or move the Paymaster General, Mr Geoffrey Robinson, following allegations of a lack of candour in a dispute over his personal finances.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman insisted: "He is staying . . . there is nothing that has been stated or proven amongst the swirl of coverage that merits Geoffrey Robinson resigning".
He said Mr Blair believes Mr Robinson "continues to bring an expertise in the world of business that gives us an added dimension in government, which has already borne fruit in relation to the windfall tax, some of the discussions we have had on coal, the public-private finance arrangements John Prescott is trying to put together".
He said Mr Blair thought Mr Robinson "has taken every step since the Prime Minister appointed him as a minister to make sure that his financial arrangements have been put on a proper footing and do not pose any conflict of interests".
The spokesman also said the deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, believed his comments had been "taken completely out of context" when "it was absolutely clear it was a robust defence of Geoffrey Robinson".
He insisted that, though Mr Robinson had made suggestions to the Orion Trust about its investments, he could not direct it to act.
There was "nothing improper" in Mr Robinson suggesting that Orion buy TransTech shares, he said, stressing that Mr Robinson had told the trustees he no longer wanted to be a discretionary beneficiary while he was a minister.
But opposition politicians and some newspapers continued to criticise Mr Robinson over his position as a "discretionary beneficiary" of a Guernsey trust fund. In the Commons yesterday the shadow chancellor, Mr Peter Lilley, claimed weekend interviews with Mr Robinson confirmed charges of hypocrisy, conflict of interest and being "economical" with the truth and he called on him to come to the House to put the record straight.
The Speaker, Ms Betty Boothroyd, rejected the Tory appeal, warning that she was "not going to be abused and used in this way".
The shadow trade and industry secretary, Mr John Redwood, called on Mr Robinson to quit.
A Labour backbencher, Mr Paul Flynn, also repeated his call for Mr Robinson to go. "We (Labour) have, in one fell swoop, fallen from the moral high ground to the low ground," he claimed.
Labour backbench opinion yesterday was split, with some MPs privately keen to see Mr Robinson go to ease the pressure on the government, while other MPs insisted it was a press and media campaign to drive him out.
The Social Security Secretary, Ms Harriet Harman, yesterday insisted the government was not considering axing benefits for disabled people or pensioners. But she faced Commons questions on whether ministers were planning to introduce means-testing for the state pension or to tax disability benefits.
The junior social security minister, Mr Keith Bradley, drew jeers when he refused to rule out introducing compulsion in the welfare to work scheme for lone parents.