Bell calls for peerages suspension

Former anti-sleaze MP Martin Bell has called for Tony Blair to suspend all appointments to the Lords while the 'peerages-for-loans' row continues.

The ex-BBC war correspondent and independent MP for Tatton between 1997 and 2001 said on Saturday that the public could have no faith in the process while police and political inquiries are ongoing.

The move came after a week in which the first arrest in the case, of former government adviser Des Smith, was made and a list of new peers was published.

In a joint letter to the prime minister, with SNP MP Angus MacNeil, Bell said that the appointments would have little public confidence.

"You will realise by now the seriousness of the cash for honours scandal with the first arrest now having been made. We suggest that you no longer attempt to dismiss this lightly as you have seemed to do in the past," they wrote.

Bell added that his ousting of 'cash-for-questions' MP Neil Hamilton followed a similar public outcry.

"I was elected in the 1997 because of public revulsion against the corruption afflicting the previous Conservative administration. What is happening now is substantially worse," he said.

"It is time to stop the rot and one way to start is to freeze all appointments to the Lords until such time that this matter is resolved.

"I doubt if even now the prime minister and indeed the Conservative Party recognise the extent to which they have brought politics into disrepute and it is high time that they did."

MacNeil added: "Instead of hiding in the Downing Street bunker, the prime minister has to acknowledge the full seriousness of the position he is now in.

"There is a total collapse of confidence in the integrity of his government and a widespread belief that honours are bartered around like second hand cars.

"Tony Blair is now the Arthur Daly of Westminster politics."