Now Holyrood election chief quizzed in peerages inquiry

A LABOUR election chief has become the latest person to come under suspicion in the cash-for- peerages affair after it emerged that he had been interviewed twice by police, once under caution.

John McTernan, Tony Blair's director of political operations, who has been called in to save Jack McConnell's campaign, had been dragged into the inquiry by the Metropolitan Police.

Those close to him have insisted he would not quit if he was arrested over the allegations. It is understood a Labour Party lawyer was with Mr McTernan, 47, when he was interviewed under caution by officers from the Met in London last week.

Mr McTernan has been political secretary to Tony Blair since May 2005 and is usually based in Downing Street. He was a head of policy under the former First Minister, Henry McLeish.

The news came after it was confirmed that the First Minister himself was interviewed by police over his nomination of Colin Boyd for a peerage - a move said to have irritated Mr McConnell as the elevation of the lord advocate to the House of Lords is common.

Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP who triggered the inquiry, said the news about Mr McTernan would rock Labour's campaign in Scotland to its core. He said: "John McTernan was sent north by Blair to run the show and now Scottish Labour look like being engulfed by the crisis".