10:58pm UK, Friday February 27, 2004

Clare Short may still face an investigation into her claims that Britain spied on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Clare Short and Kofi Annan

Home Secretary David Blunkett has refused to rule out an inquiry under the Official Secrets Act.

Tony Blair is under mounting pressure to reveal if former International Development Ms Short's claims were true after fresh revelations of spying.

But the Saturday's newspapers reported that the party was closing in around him amid fears continued attacks on the Goverment could lead to the Tories winning the next General Election.

Both Hans Blix and Richard Butler, two former chief weapons inspectors, say they were tapped while they were on missions abroad, it was claimed.

Mr Blix told Saturday's Guardian newspaper that he suspected his UN office and New York home were being bugged by the Americans.

Labour backbenchers joined Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy in demanding the Prime Minister comes clean on the row.

Mr Blair did not mention the matter in a speech to the Labour Party's Scottish Conference in Inverness.

Australian radio reported that Mr Blix's phone was bugged whenever he was in Iraq and the information shared between the United States, Britain and their allies.

Mr Butler said he was "well aware" that his phone calls were being monitored during his tenure.

He claimed he was forced to hold confidential talks with contacts on walks in New York's Central Park because of the phone tapping in his office at the UN headquarters while he was investigating Iraq's weapons programme.