A 'mole' at 10, Downing St.?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 26. Is there a ``mole'' at 10, Downing Street? And if so, whom is it working for?

The Sunday Times today published extracts from ``confidential'' Downing Street documents relating to issues under discussion between the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, and his chief of staff, Mr. Jonathan Powell, one of his closest aides.

The newspaper, in a front-page disclosure, said nearly a dozen pages of ``handwritten notes on official head paper'' had been leaked to it raising ``suspicions of a mole in the heart of government''.

The leak, it said, would ``precipitate'' an inquiry into security at Downing Street.

The leaked notes, apparently scribbled by Mr. Powell, refer to Mr. Blair as ``TB'' and cover a whole range of issues including a ``mini reshuffle'', Northern Ireland and the Express newspaper group which was sold this week. The name of the Microsoft chief, Mr. Bill Gates, appears on one sheet with a ``large tick through it''. ``Has the world's richest man concluded a deal with Blair? Or has Powell simply put him on the Prime Minister's Christmas card list?'' The Sunday Times wonders.

Another ``entry'' refers to ``Clinton - future....NI'' which the newspaper assumes implies a discussion about the President, Mr. Bill Clinton's role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Mr. Blair's powerful Press Secretary, Mr. Alistair Campbell, also figures in the notes being referred to as ``AC'' in connection with ``Q's sph'' (the Queen's speech) - the use of initials suggesting a certain ``informality'' at Downing Street. ``Scrawled in an untidy hand - said by an expert to be the writing of a `stressed and secretive' author, the notes are a tantalising glimpse of the innermost workings of Blair's team'', notes The Sunday Times Insight team which broke the story.

The contents of the leaked papers may themselves not be significant but the fact that someone who was privy to them passed them on to a newspaper is likely to lead to demands for an inquiry.

This is the second such leak from Downing Street this year. Earlier this year, a secret memo from Mr. Philip Gould, election strategist of Mr. Blair, cautioning the Prime Minister that he was ``out of touch'' with public mood was leaked to the same newspaper. And only a few weeks ago, confidential minutes of a Cabinet discussion were published by another newspaper.

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Section  : International
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