Blair vents fury over funeral row

An embattled Tony Blair took the unprecedented step yesterday of releasing a 30-page dossier to try to end the damaging row over his role at the Queen Mother's funeral.

Clearly angered by the ongoing controversy, and fearing the possibility of more damaging claims, the Prime Minister published details of the conversations between Downing Street and Black Rod, the parliamentary official in charge of the lying-in-state.

"The public must be a little bemused by this and there are 1,001 more important issues for me to concern myself with as Prime Minister," he said. "But the allegation that I tried to muscle in or hijack the Queen Mother's funeral is as offensive as it completely and totally untrue."

But his unusual move failed to end the matter. The dossier does not contain the evidence submitted by Black Rod, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Willcocks, to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) after Mr Blair complained about reports in three publications alleging he tried to "muscle in" on the funeral.

It is believed that Mr Blair withdrew his complaint after realising that Sir Michael's report contradicted Downing Street's version of events. Blair aides fear that Sir Michael's evidence, which has been described as "dynamite", will be leaked to Sunday newspapers, and this prompted the publication of the dossier.

Its main argument is that a misunderstanding may have occurred because Downing Street was working from different guidelines about the funeral to Black Rod. The 1994 rules said the Prime Minister and other party leaders would be present at the arrival of the Queen Mother's coffin at Westminster Hall. But Black Rod said this was not the case and, the dossier says, this was accepted immediately by Clare Sumner, a Number 10 private secretary, in a telephone conversation with Sir Michael.

Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's director of communications and strategy, told the PCC in a letter: "I could see how, if someone were minded to twist and distort, this account could provide some basis of the false story published by the three publications."

Some ministers are critical of the role played by Black Rod. Yesterday, his office refused to confirm or deny that he was the source of a report in The Mail on Sunday, one of the three which prompted Mr Blair's complaint.

Downing Street said yesterday that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, rather than Mr Blair, suggested that senior ministers walk from Downing Street to Westminster because it was a "nice day". The idea was dropped but led to claims that Mr Blair wanted to be seen shaking hands with members of the public.

Peter Oborne, political editor of Spectator magazine, who is standing by his claim that Downing Street tried to win Mr Blair a bigger role, said the Government was "close to becoming demented" over the affair and was in a "dreadful muddle".

Tam Dalyell, the veteran Labour MP, called for Mr Campbell to resign, saying he had become a "liability" for the Government. He added: "While he remains, every Government attempt to turn its back on spin will be portrayed as spin."