cash for 'honours'

Yates of the Yard was today called to give evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee.

The Assistant Commissioner, who was dubbed “Yates of the Yard” during the inquiry, blamed the length of the inquiry on a lack of co-operation from a handful of those targeted by the inquiry.

“The Cabinet Office co-operated in full throughout, in my view,” Mr Yates told MPs. “Others did not. It is quite obvious to everybody who that was.”

Asked by MPs if he was referring to Downing Street, Mr Yates would not answer directly and said Number 10 comprised several different groups of people, including officials, advisers and political figures.

“I don’t think people deliberately misled us, but I do think in retrospect and with hindsight we were treated as a political problem, not a criminal problem,” he said. “They thought we would ask questions, get answers and simply go away. That is not how police work.”

(The Times – Cash-for-honours chief: I was political football)

See also BBC – key points.

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