BRITAIN:The British Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed that the first man arrested in the "cash for honours" affair will not face charges.
Headteacher Des Smith, who was an adviser to the body seeking wealthy sponsors for the government's flagship City Academies programme, was questioned last April after allegedly suggesting that sponsors would receive honours.
While Mr Smith had made "indiscreet" comments to an undercover reporter, prosecutors said there was "insufficient evidence" to charge him with an offence under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act. Mr Smith said he was relieved by the decision, adding that it had all been "nonsense from the beginning".
However, the Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeill, whose complaint triggered the Scotland Yard inquiry, suggested Mr Smith had been "on the periphery" and "out of the picture for quite a while" and that now "the inquiry seems to be centring on Downing Street".
His comment came amid reports that Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, is to be interviewed for a second time under caution. Those reports coincided with a firm insistence by cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell that 10 Downing Street had fully complied with the police investigation.
Giving evidence to the Public Administration Committee at Westminster yesterday, Sir Gus told MPs the government was not being distracted by the police probe. And while describing media coverage of the story as "deeply worrying", he specifically denied claims that a second email system existed within Number 10, adding that his former role as press secretary to former prime minister John Major had taught him "never to believe everything I read in the newspapers".
The prime minister had asked him to ensure full co-operation with the police and "that's what we've done", Sir Gus added.