Police are recommending that no prosecution be brought against the senior Cabinet minister's son facing drug dealing allegations, according to The Times newspaper.

A police report sent to the Crown Prosecution Service on Wednesday says the 17-year-old should be cautioned or face no action at all.

The paper says a seven-day investigation by senior detectives is understood to have concluded that no charges be brought because the amount of cannabis was very small and there is a dispute between witnesses about the circumstances leading up to the purchase of the drug.

The minister whose son has been arrested says he is "profoundly frustrated" by the legal restrictions which prevent him from being identified.

The paper also says the politician has told colleagues that if his son is not prosecuted, he will divulge his identity.

Sun Editor, Stuart Higgins: The minister is profoundly frustrated (1'00")

In brief interviews with the editors of the Sun and the Mirror newspapers, the minister made it clear that he would have preferred to have been named on the day that the case was made public.

But a judge maintained that naming the boy could prejudice future court proceedings.

Curiouser and curiouser: BBC Legal Affairs correspondent, Joshua Rozenberg, explains why everyone's hands are tied (1'30")

The case raises complex legal questions for the newspapers and the minister himself.

An injunction, granted earlier this week by the Attorney General, John Morris QC, prevents the Sun - and any other UK newspaper - from identifying the minister.

The law prevents the minister from identifying himself. He has said that he had been preparing a statement about the case when the story broke but had been advised by his lawyers that it was not possible to speak out.

The minister said: "I want to talk about this in public and reveal my identity but I have been told I can't."

Stuart Higgins, Editor of the Sun newspaper, told the BBC that the minister said he would be happy to identify himself if and when the law permits. The law, the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act, forbids any news organisation from identifying children under 18 who are charged with a crime.

Piers Morgan, the editor of the Mirror, also spoke with the minister.

Following their 10-minute conversation, Mr Morgan paid tribute to the minister as a "decent man and a caring father".

The adolescent has still not been charged.

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