'Cherie's in the clear'

Downing Street today issued a strongly worded denial that Cherie Blair had done anything improper in her dealings with convicted fraudster Peter Foster.

Mrs Blair, as well as other ministers' wives, had a right to privacy, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

He appealed to journalists to gain a "sense of perspective" over the row which has dogged Downing Street for more than a week.

The spokesman said: "The central fact in all of this is quite simply nothing improper or illegal has been done or has been shown to be done."

The statement came as the Conservatives called for an independent inquiry into claims that the Home Office tried to gag Foster by deporting him.

While Tony Blair defended his wife Cherie for her involvement with the conman - dismissing the storm over their £500,000 property deal as "a media frenzy" - the Government faced searching questions over its decision to speed up moves to eject Mr Foster from Britain.

Downing Street was under siege after a third major inconsistency in its denials of wrongdoing emerged with the admission that Mrs Blair telephoned Mr Foster's solicitors over the immigration proceedings.

The disclosure, which contradicted earlier Number 10 denials that she gave any help in his fight against deportation, also cast doubt on her insistence that she was not aware of his criminal past.

That followed the forced admission by Downing Street that it misled the public when it denied that Mr Foster, a convicted fraudster, was involved in negotiating the purchase of two luxury flats on behalf of the Blairs and that the properties were bought by a so-called blind trust which was supposed to be run independently of the Prime Minister and his family.

Although the opposition parties have held back from attacking Mrs Blair in person, the Conservatives turned their focus on the conduct of the Home Office which suddenly rushed forward moves to deport Mr Foster within 48 hours of the story first breaking.

Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said the case should be studied by an independent inquiry because of suspicions that the Government acted improperly in an attempt to bundle the conman out of the country before he could cause further embarrassment to the Blairs.

And in his first comments on the affair, Mr Blair insisted the deportation case was "handled entirely properly". He added: "This type of media frenzy will come and go."

Martin Bell, the former MP who won his parliamentary seat with Labour backing on an anti-sleaze platform, said it was clear that Mrs Blair knew about Mr Foster's criminal past.

He said: "Someone in Downing Street I think has had a common sense bypass, if she asserts, or Downing Street asserts on her behalf, that if she'd known about this man's past she'd have been circumspect. Well obviously from what's come out, she did know about this person's past."

He said: "This really can't go on. This is a Government, she's the wife of the Prime Minister, but this is a Government which came into power on the back of sleaze allegations.

"We are talking about public trust. I think they have to get this right, and come out with the truth. If you go on denying things and it comes out bit by bit, you die the death by a thousand cuts."

International Development Secretary Clare Short insisted Mrs Blair had done nothing wrong. "The whole thing is out of control and it is ridiculous," she said. "All she did was speak to the lawyers on the phone to check if the case was being handled properly."

Mr Foster had been fighting against deportation since August 31 when he returned to Britain from holiday and was refused entry.

He was later given permission to stay pending an appeal with no deadline for leaving the country.