So, what now for the seven major players?

Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who led the police inquiry, remorselessly pursuedleads. He now faces recriminations from Labour MPs and will be questioned on the investigation by the Metropolitan Police Authority and a Commons committee.

Tony Blair was questioned three times as a witness by police. Although he was never under suspicion, the inquiry blighted his final year in Downing Street. With yesterday's decision lifting a cloud over the close of his premiership, he is beginning a second career as a Middle East peace envoy.

Related articles

• Fall-out from a saga which brought a knock at the door of Number 10
• End of investigation greeted with relief and recrimination
• Party funding system untenable
• Leading article: A good week for Gordon Brown, but a hard lesson for David Cameron
• Search the news archive for more stories

Lord Levy was livid to be arrested twice in connection with the honours allegations and a suspected conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He has relinquished his roles as Labour's chief fundraiser and Mr Blair's personal Middle East envoy and will pursue business interests and charitable work.

Ruth Turner, Mr Blair's director of government relations, was questioned under caution by police and later arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. She is about to take up a post with the Blair Foundation, a charitable organisation devoted to dialogue between faiths.

The biotech millionaire Sir Christopher Evans, a major Labour donor, was arrested and questioned by police in September. He confirmed that several years ago he and Lord Levy discussed whether he would ever be awarded "a K or a P" (knighthood or peerage) but insisted he was never offered anything in return for loans or gifts. He said yesterday he was glad to get "some normality back to my business and family life".

The former East London head teacher Des Smith was the first person to be arrested after apparently telling an undercover reporter honours could be obtained in return for funding academy schools. He learnt in February there was "insufficient evidence" to bring charges against him. Now retired, he said last year he had considered suicide after his arrest.

No one expected a complaint to police by Angus MacNeil, the Scottish Nationalist MP,to result in a 16-month inquiry. But Mr MacNeil has earned himself a key footnote in recent political history.