UK's Sun says also gagged over funding probe email

LONDON, Mar 5 (Reuters) The Sun has been blocked from publishing details of an email linked to a British police probe into political party funding, the tabloid said today, barely 48-hours after the BBC was similarly gagged.

Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, acting on behalf of the police, obtained a court injunction yesterday to prevent the daily from revealing the content of the email sent between two aides to Prime Minister Tony Blair, it said.

The censored email was also at the centre of a BBC report blocked by a court order on Friday, according to the Sun.

''Attorney general Lord Goldsmith last night authorised a government lawyer to contact us and seek a guarantee the information would not be made public,'' it said.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman was unable to immediately confirm the report.

The British Broadcasting Corporation said on Saturday a story about the political funding scandal it was barred from running could have been central to police inquiries into a potential cover-up involving aides to Blair.

Police have for the past year been investigating whether parties awarded honours, which come with seats in parliament's House of Lords, in return for loans but in recent months their inquiry has widened to include a potential cover-up.

The investigation has cast a shadow over Blair's final months in office. He is expected to go in or by July this year.

Two Blair aides were recently arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice or conspiring to do so.

Blair has been questioned twice as a witness by police.

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