Press hails 'victory' in royal funeral row

Two newspapers and a magazine claimed victory yesterday because Tony Blair has decided not to pursue a complaint over their allegations that Downing Street tried to win him a bigger role at the Queen Mother's funeral.

Downing Street was said last night to have backed down just as Black Rod, the official in charge of the lying-in-state, was preparing to contradict Number 10's version of events in evidence to the Press Complaints Commission. Sir Michael Willcocks, who is Black Rod, said he had discussed the affair with PCC officials but the matter was now "closed".

A statement said: "Black Rod was approached by the Press Complaints Commission and asked if he would comment since his own role in the matter had been raised. Black Rod discussed the request with the PCC but in the event Number 10 withdrew the complaint and, therefore, as far as Black Rod is concerned, the matter is now closed."

Downing Street insisted it was "very happy" with the outcome after the PCC said it could not "fully ascertain the facts" over contacts between Number 10 staff and the office of Black Rod.

The PCC proposed that the dispute between Mr Blair and The Spectator magazine, The Mail on Sunday and the London Evening Standard be resolved without a formal ruling because the issue "will remain largely a matter of interpretation". Downing Street insisted that Clare Sumner, a private secretary, merely asked for guidance about the Prime Minister's role but the publications claimed an attempt was made to enhance it.

Mr Blair's spokesman said: "What has been established beyond doubt is the Prime Minister did not in any way try to enhance his role in the Queen Mother's funeral. Suggestions otherwise were not only deeply offensive but also completely wrong." The PCC said: "It seems that none of the three publications concerned has produced evidence in their defence that the Prime Minister himself was in any way involved in any of this, or that he did anything wrong or sought for himself a greater role in proceedings."

But the three journals told the PCC their sources, whose identity they did not wish to divulge, had given an account of the contacts over the funeral that was clearly at odds with the version from Number 10.

The three publications stuck to their guns yesterday, accusing Mr Blair and his aides of a climbdown. Boris Johnson, editor of The Spectator and the Tory MP for Henley, said: "When we first broke the story, they demanded a correction, an apology, and the payment of a sum of damages. They have now put their tanks into reverse in the most hilarious way. There has been no 'resolution' of the dispute. The Prime Minister has simply run up the white flag."

Mr Johnson claimed Mr Blair had been frightened of the full facts becoming public. He insisted his magazine had been "100 per cent right".

He said: "Of course Mr Blair didn't ring Black Rod himself. No one ever said he did. But several calls were made on his behalf. It is very sad that Mr Blair should have recourse to the PCC to try to suppress the truth."

The Mail on Sunday said: "This is a humiliating climbdown by Number 10 and a very important victory for press freedom. The accuracy of our story is now fully vindicated and an outrageous attempt by Downing Street to use the PCC to force the media to accept Number 10's interpretation of political news has been thwarted."