No 10 denies Blair honours note

Tony Blair has been questioned by police during their investigation

Downing Street has denied reports a handwritten note by Tony Blair is among evidence uncovered by police probing "cash-for-honours" allegations.

The Sunday Telegraph said the note was understood to acknowledge efforts of 12 Labour backers who secretly loaned the party £14m.

Mr Blair had made his comments in ink on internal government papers and initialled them, the paper said.

No 10 said: "This is completely wrong. There isn't any such document."

Mr Blair's comments were among a batch of Downing Street papers obtained by detectives, the newspaper claims, adding it is the first time the investigation's "paper trail" has led back to the prime minister.

It says detectives believe Mr Blair had intended to give working peerages to most of the 12 lenders, rather than the four previously thought, but was advised against this.

On Friday, Downing Street denied allegations it had a hidden e-mail system from which messages were deleted after the cash-for-honours inquiry began.

ITV News said police had been alerted to a second network in Downing Street.

But a Number 10 spokesman said there was no second system containing details of party donors.

Police are investigating whether money was donated to political parties in exchange for peerages - all those involved deny any wrongdoing.

In an interview earlier with BBC One's Politics Show, Mr Blair repeatedly declined to answer questions on the police investigation.

"Let the thing run its course and then we will see," he told interviewer John Sopel.