Police question Blair in corruption investigation

British police questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday in an investigation into allegations that state honors were handed out in return for loans to his party.

Blair’s office said he had been interviewed as a witness, not a suspect. The fact that he was not cautioned about his rights suggested that he had no criminal charges to answer.

Police launched an inquiry in March into allegations by an opposition party that Blair’s Labor and other political parties had nominated people for seats in the House of Lords in exchange for party funding.

Blair is the first British prime minister since David Lloyd George in the 1920s to be questioned by police in a cash-for-honors inquiry. That led to a law against selling state honors.