Blair rejects new panel to probe ministers

LONDON, Mar 9 (Reuters) Prime Minister Tony Blair today rejected calls today by Westminster's standards watchdog for an independent panel to investigate any allegations of misconduct by government ministers.

In his annual report, the watchdog's chairman Alistair Graham said he could not understand why Blair had not already changed the rules, especially given the controversy surrounding Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.

But Downing Street disagreed. ''In the end, the argument which in the prime minister's view outweighs all is that the person who takes the ultimate decision is accountable to parliament and to the electorate,'' Blair's spokesman said.

''Even if you have an independent figure, that is no guarantee that the decisions will not be criticised by certain sections of the media,'' he added.

Blair cleared Jowell last week after an investigation by Britain's top civil servant Gus O'Donnell into whether she had broken the ministerial code of conduct over her the business dealings of her husband David Mills.

But Jowell has remained under pressure despite Blair's support and the opposition Conservative party have continued to demand a further investigation.

The idea of an independent investigator was originally proposed by the Committee of Standards in Public Life in 2003. today, its chairman Graham said the current ''ad hoc'' system had come to the end of the road.

''I am puzzled why the Prime Minister has not acted on this issue,'' he said. ''At regular intervals he has been faced with allegations of breaches of the Ministerial Code in which he and his government have become the centre of a media storm.

''This leads to immense pressure on a minister, whose future will often depend on the vagaries of an ad hoc investigation.'' FINAL DECISION Instead, Graham proposed a system where facts surrounding an allegation would be independently investigated but the Prime Minister would still continue to make the final decision on the minister's future.

Graham said the controversy surrounding Jowell and previous inquiries into former ministers Peter Mandelson and David Blunkett showed the system did not work.

He said an independent panel should be appointed early in a government's term, with those selected approved by all parties.

The current system was damaging public trust, he believed.

''The present system is demonstrably redundant and leads to a loss of public confidence and damage to the standing of the government,'' he said.

Cabinet secretary O'Donnell was called in last week to investigate Jowell's conduct after her husband received 0,000 to pay a mortgage on their home.

Mills, a tax lawyer, is under investigation in Italy over the money, which Italian prosecutors say may have been an illegal payment from Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Jowell was cleared after she said she was not aware of the payment. Blair said the inquiry had shown she did not break the ministerial code of conduct.

REUTERS SHR RN1812