Posted By: Tom Hustler

LONDON - Police investigating allegations that the governing Labour Party traded honors for cash have requested information from all the members of Tony Blair's Cabinet, bringing the scandal closer to the prime minister's doorstep, British media reported Wednesday.if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write("");if (window.yzq_a)
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Allegations that Blair offered honors, including seats in the House of Lords, to supporters who secretly lent his party money first surfaced in March and helped fuel public anger just as Labour was preparing for important May local elections.

The scandal, and the pummeling the party took in that vote, fed a Labour rebellion that forced Blair to announce in September that he would resign within a year. Blair has denied any impropriety, and insists his nominations for Parliament's unelected upper chamber have been made only on merit.

Detectives asked Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who is expected to replace Blair when he steps down, to declare what he knows about loans given to the party before the last election, the news agency Press Association and Sky News TV reported.

Brown's office and London's Metropolitan Police force, which is conducting the investigation, refused to comment when The Associated Press asked about the news reports. A Labour Party spokesman also declined comment.

British Broadcasting Corp. television reported that police had written to the entire 2005 Cabinet except for Blair, asking if they had anything to do with four Labour supporters who gave the party loans being nominated for seats in the House of Lords. Some were also asked whether they had been involved in obtaining the loans, the BBC reported.

The BBC said police were also seeking to speak to five Cabinet members but it did not specify which ones. It said all the Cabinet members contacted were being treated as witnesses, not suspects.

The Labour Party previously has said it accepted, but did not disclose, loans of almost $25 million from 12 supporters. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties also have had to acknowledge they received secret loans.

Campaign funding rules allow those who offer loans to political parties — but not donations — to remain anonymous. But Blair has been forced to concede that some supporters who offered loans were later nominated for seats in the House of Lords.

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