A SENIOR adviser to Tony Blair has been questioned under caution by police about correspondence that discusses the possibility of nominating Labour donors for peerages, The Times has learnt.

Ruth Turner, Downing Street’s director of government relations, was interviewed last week by Scotland Yard detectives investigating cash-for-honours allegations, Labour sources confirmed.

She was asked about e-mails and documents that raised questions about which Labour lenders might be placed on a list to be submitted to the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

The disclosure will deeply concern Labour officials, who fear that police may have uncovered a “smoking gun” in an inquiry that is getting closer to the Prime Minister.

Ms Turner, 36, was appointed to the key job two years ago and is known as “Tony’s gatekeeper”. Her predecessors were Anji Hunter and Baroness Morgan of Huyton. She also acted as a go-between for Mr Blair and at least one millionaire lender at the heart of the police inquiry.

Detectives discovered the correspondence when searching computer and paper files in Downing Street, sources said.

It is understood that police questions concentrated on “e-mail traffic” that appeared to have been sent both to and from Ms Turner’s workstation in Downing Street.

The e-mails, written in 2004 and 2005, discussed which lenders might be placed on a list of nominees for peerages. The list of names was to be forwarded to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, the parliamentary body that recommended the names of individuals to be appointed on merit.

Police were trying to establish whether there was a conspiracy to give out honours in exchange for loans that could later be converted into gifts.

One Labour backer, Sir Gulam Noon, has told The Times previously that he wanted to tell the commission about a £250,000 loan to Labour, but was advised not to do so.

Ms Turner, one of a handful of advisers told of Mr Blair’s plans to bow out of politics with appearances on Songs of Praise and Blue Peter, is a key aide who reports to Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair’s chief of staff.

It was reported that she visited Ian McCartney, who was then chairman of the party, in hospital so that he could sign peerage nomination forms — a claim that she has since denied. Mr McCartney has said he was unaware of the loans.

She is the fourteenth person to be questioned under caution as part of the five-month inquiry.

It is understood that she was also questioned by police about Labour’s relationship with Sir Christopher Evans, the biochemistry tycoon who lent the party £1 million before the last general election.

This will increase speculation that detectives are focusing on the party’s relationship with Sir Christopher, named last week by The Times as the first donor to be arrested as part of the inquiries.

Police have so far arrested three people as part of their investigation: Lord Levy, the Prime Minister’s personal fundraiser; Des Smith, a government adviser; and Sir Christopher. All three have denied any wrongdoing.

Friends of Ms Turner have said previously that she had sent no e-mails to the party’s financial backers that could be interpreted as an appeal for loans.

The Metropolitan Police have said that they hope to conclude their inquiries in October, when they will hand a dossier to the Crown Prosecution Service. It will determine if there is sufficient evidence to press charges. Two preliminary documents have been sent to the service to date, prosecution sources said.

WHAT LAW SAYS

• The Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 made it an offence to take money as an “inducement or reward” for procuring an honour for someone else; it is also an offence to give anyone any money or valuable consideration as an inducement or reward for procuring an honour
  
  
• The Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 restricts the sources of donations to political parties and makes it an offence to evade those restrictions

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone