Yates faces questioning from MPs

The Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner John Yates is to be given a public grilling by MPs over the conduct of his "cash for honours" inquiry, which did not bring charges against Tony Blair or his key advisers.

Mr Yates will be called before the Commons public administration committee on 23 October to face questions over the high-profile arrests including the raid on the home of Ruth Turner, the former "gatekeeper" to Mr Blair when he was Prime Minister. One committee member said: "He has got some questions to answer about the reason why the police thought it right to call on Ruth Turner at the crack of dawn."

The Crown Prosecution Service announced in July that no charges would be brought against Mr Blair or his top advisers, including Lord Levy, who was the main Labour fundraiser when £14m was raised in loans from 12 businessmen some of whom were put forward by Downing Street for honours including peerages.

When no charges were brought, the Labour chairman of the committee, Tony Wright, said the investigation had been a "disaster for the police and a disaster for the political system".

The committee has been given legal advice that they cannot be allowed to see the dossier of evidence that Mr Yates's Met team assembled for the CPS. However, MPs will have the chance to question Mr Yates over the evidence he uncovered including the alleged e-mail trail between Mr Blair's aides and Lord Levy.

The chairman of the vetting committee for honours, Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, yesterday told the MPs that he was "shocked" to find that some of those put forward by Labour for peerages had secretly given loans to the party.