Blair friend in 'cronyism' row

A close friend of Tony Blair is today accused of getting preferential treatment after policemen were sent to guard his wife while he was away from home.

Lord Levy reportedly phoned a police chief personally to ask for officers to be stationed outside his £5 million Mill Hill home while a servant drove him to the airport.

The officers spent two and a half hours outside the house last Saturday night in a car specially equipped to deal with terror attacks - only leaving when the servant returned.

Lord Levy, 58, and his wife Gilda, were viciously attacked in their home five months ago by robbers who threatened them with violence and took £80,000 in jewellery and cash. Four months before that, Lady Levy disturbed intruders who fled empty-handed.

Last year an empty police car was parked outside the house to scare off potential burglars.

Former Scotland Yard commander John O'Connor said: "It is blatant cronyism."

Victims' Voice chairman Wendy Robinson added: "This is not the sort of service ordinary victims of crime could hope to receive."