It was not the act, but the smoke and the mirrors that caught Nixon. The same tendrils of obscurity and obfuscation have dogged the police investigation of No. 10. Documents and emails have not been sent as requested or have gone missing. These have become a sufficient pattern to warrant an investigation as to whether certain individuals have colluded to pervert the course of justice:
Downing Street aides and Labour officials involved in the cash-for-honours inquiry are being investigated on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, The Times has learnt.
If the investigation moves away from its original purpose to examine actions designed to prevent a police investigation, Labour will rue the day. Ever since they have entered office, they have acted as if they enjoyed Crown immunity, the grasping of power raising them above the reaches of the law. This can be seen in myriad decisions, where the goal uttered was reached for without cognizance of convention, check, statute, or sometimes, plain reality. Now they are mired in the sod:
A prosecution source said: “There is more than a suspicion that evidence has not been handed over, people have colluded and the police are not being helped.
“It has been noted that when the Watergate scandal forced President Nixon to resign, it was the cover-up, not the burglary, that brought him down. What these people should remember is that they are not dealing with a parliamentary inquiry; this is a criminal investigation and anyone failing to co-operate is participating in a criminal offence.”
This will take Labour's problems to a new level, dogged by corruption and sleaze, tarring the next administration with Blair's detritus.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has advised detectives to look into suspected attempts to hamper the nine-month investigation. Some e-mails and documents have yet to be handed over to the police while others have apparently “disappeared”. Some individuals are suspected of colluding over evidence.