Former prime minister Tony Blair has been questioned for a third time by detectives investigating cash-for-honours allegations.
Sources confirmed Mr Blair has once again been questioned by officers, possibly in the last week.
The Metropolitan Police are investigating claims that senior Labour figures awarded honours in return for donations to the party.
News of the interview was apparently kept secret until Mr Blair left office on Wednesday.
His official spokesman told reporters as recently as Monday that he was not aware of him being questioned.
It is understood that the former Prime Minister was treated as a witness, not a suspect, during the questioning. Downing Street refused to confirm the reports and Mr Blair's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mr Blair became the first serving Prime Minister to be questioned by police in relation to an alleged crime when he answered questions in 10 Downing Street last December. He was reinterviewed in January, again as a potential witness.
Police have been investigating claims that four businessmen were nominated for peerages in return for making loans totalling more than £5 million in the run-up to the 2005 General Election.
So far, close Blair aides Lord Levy and Ruth Turner, along with Labour donor Sir Christopher Evans, have been arrested and released on bail, but there have been no charges.
A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime Directorate in April, but no decision has been made on prosecutions.
http:/www.met.police.uk(Metropolitan Police)
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