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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Defiant Blair rejects quit calls | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A defiant Tony Blair has said he will not give in to pressure to quit over the cash-for-honours affair. | |
| The Prime Minster told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped the police inquiry would be over "shortly". | The Prime Minster told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped the police inquiry would be over "shortly". |
| But he said he intended "get on with the job", adding: "You will have to put up with me for a bit longer." | |
| Mr Blair is due to stand down this year but has come under pressure to go now after being interviewed by police as a witness for a second time. | Mr Blair is due to stand down this year but has come under pressure to go now after being interviewed by police as a witness for a second time. |
| Senior Labour figures, including party chairman Hazel Blears and former leader Neil Kinnock, have said the cash-for-honours inquiry is damaging the government. | Senior Labour figures, including party chairman Hazel Blears and former leader Neil Kinnock, have said the cash-for-honours inquiry is damaging the government. |
| Mr Blair told Today it would "not be very democratic" to bow to pressure to stand down earlier than he had planned. | Mr Blair told Today it would "not be very democratic" to bow to pressure to stand down earlier than he had planned. |
| But he added: "I am not going to beg for my character in front of anyone. People can make up their own mind about me." | But he added: "I am not going to beg for my character in front of anyone. People can make up their own mind about me." |
| 'Media' | 'Media' |
| Asked about the police inquiry, Mr Blair said: "I think it's got to run its course over the next few weeks. | Asked about the police inquiry, Mr Blair said: "I think it's got to run its course over the next few weeks. |
| I am not going to get into a situation where I am pleading for my integrity, not even actually in front of the public Tony Blair class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/6323149.stm">Blair defends NHS record class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/audio/tony_blair20070202.ram">Listen to full interview | |
| "I hope it will be wound up and let's see where we are then, and in the meantime despite what people may think, I get on with the job." | "I hope it will be wound up and let's see where we are then, and in the meantime despite what people may think, I get on with the job." |
| He cautioned voters against believing everything they read "ricocheting around the media", some of which he said was "untrue". | He cautioned voters against believing everything they read "ricocheting around the media", some of which he said was "untrue". |
| He said he would be happy to speak publicly about the affair once the police inquiry is over. | He said he would be happy to speak publicly about the affair once the police inquiry is over. |
| 'Cynicism' | 'Cynicism' |
| He was then asked whether he still saw himself as "a pretty straight kind of guy," as he famously described himself in 1997 over the Ecclestone affair, the first funding scandal to engulf his premiership. | |
| "I am not going to get into a situation where I am pleading for my integrity, not even actually in front of the public," he told interviewer John Humphrys. | |
| He said he had "a deep respect for the British people and it's been an honour and privilege to lead them". | He said he had "a deep respect for the British people and it's been an honour and privilege to lead them". |
| But he had "changed" over the past 10 years and was a "different sort of person" now, who was not as concerned about being "liked". | But he had "changed" over the past 10 years and was a "different sort of person" now, who was not as concerned about being "liked". |
| Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has warned it will take "years" for the political system to recover from the damage the cash-for-honours inquiry had caused. | |
| And party chairman Hazel Blears told BBC2's Newsnight: "Inevitably, when you have this kind of thing going on for months and months, it does have a corrosive effect. | |
| "It is damaging for politics because there is a corrosive cynicism around that I think is damaging for the country." | "It is damaging for politics because there is a corrosive cynicism around that I think is damaging for the country." |
| She added: "This whole affair has overshadowed our domestic agenda: it is quite difficult to get your message across." | She added: "This whole affair has overshadowed our domestic agenda: it is quite difficult to get your message across." |
| Constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman told BBC One's Question Time the affair was "eroding trust". |