Des Browne was fighting to stay in his job beyond the summer yesterday after finally taking responsibility for the decision to allow the sailors captured by Iran to sell their stories.

Tony Blair broke his silence on the affair to say that allowing the military personnel to be paid for speaking about their experiences was “not a good idea” and would not happen again. He had not been told of the decision until after it been made, he said.

Aides insisted that Mr Blair was “supportive of Mr Browne”. The Prime Minister said that everyone involved in the decision had acted “completely in good faith” but suggested that “with hindsight” they had got it wrong.

Mr Blair will keep Mr Browne as his Defence Secretary while he remains at No 10. But senior Labour politicians said that Mr Browne had been badly damaged and expected him to be moved to a less onerous job by Gordon Brown when he took over in June or July.

Ministers said Mr Browne’s authority had also been weakened by recent interventions by Service chiefs, notably by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, over Iraq, and other leading military figures over the Iran episode.

Mr Browne, a supporter of the Chancellor, went to the Defence Ministry with a reputation as a safe pair of hands but that has now been harmed.

Mr Blair, asked last night if he had played a part in allowing the freed captives to sell their stories, replied: “I didn’t actually know about the decision until after it was taken. But really that is not the point.

“The Navy was trying to deal with a wholly exceptional situation in which the families were being pursued by the media to tell their stories. The Navy took the view that it was better to manage the situation. With hindsight was that a good idea? No.”

The Defence Secretary said yesterday that although he had learnt of the Navy “decision” on Thursday he had had no discussion with Mr Blair about it until Monday, when he announced the U-turn. That in itself was seen both as a mistake but also a sign of Mr Blair’s weakening grip on the Government. Ministers said it was inconceivable that such matters would not have been discussed with the Prime Minister for most of Mr Blair’s premiership.

The Times was told that Mr Blair learnt of the Navy decision on Sunday from the newspapers. Mr Browne admitted for the first time that he had got it wrong over the Iran issue, as the Conservatives demanded an inquiry into the “calamitous” decision to allow freed hostages to sell their stories.

Mr Browne, looking solemn, asked to appear on television to make it clear that the whole issue had been handled differently. He acknowledged that he had taken no action to overturn the decision made by Vice-Admiral Adrian Johns, the Second Sea Lord, but then confessed he had not been “content” with the reasoning behind the plan to let two of the released captives sell their stories for significant sums to the media.

He reversed the decision on Monday after thinking about it over the weekend. “I said at the outset, although this was a Navy decision, I have to take responsibility for it, and I don’t seek to hide behind the fact that the Navy made the decision,” he said in an interview.

“Ultimately, the buck stops here,” he said, speaking from his office in the Ministry of Defence before flying to Canada for a defence conference.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said a full MoD inquiry was needed to find out what had gone wrong when the 15 sailors and Marines were captured in the Gulf by the Iranians, and how the “calamitous decision” was made by ministers to allow service personnel to sell their stories. “This was a dreadful decision and there are still further questions that need to be answered,” he said.

The Tories have raised 14 questions that they want answered by the Government.

Mr Browne said: “People need to understand that as these young people who had come back safely were being debriefed, the view was taken by the Navy that it was in their interests to have an opportunity to counteract the propaganda the Iranians had put out.”

The Conservatives accused the Government yesterday of failing to provide adequate duty of care towards service-men and women.

Tory questions

The Tories have raised 14 questions they want answered by the Government. They include:

- What discussions took place between ministers and civil servants over the media handling of their release before two sailors sold their stories?

- Did ministers ask the Prime Minister or his officials for their views on whether personnel should sell their stories?

- What discussions took place between the First Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Jonathon Band], the Defence Secretary and his civil servants about the implementation of the Queen’s regulations?

And, on the issue of the capture of the 15 sailors and Marines by the Iranians in the Gulf:

- Was it safe to conduct [boarding] operations so far from HMS Cornwall, [the warship involved in the incident]?

- Why did HMS Cornwall’s radar not detect the six boats coming from Iranian waters?

- Why did the Royal Navy Lynx helicopter on board not stay with the vessel during the boarding of the merchant ship in the Gulf?

- Will the MoD review the resources and force protection for the Royal Navy boarding parties?

- What progress is being made in the training of the Iraqi Navy, and in particular their ability to conduct such boarding missions?

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