No 10: PM did not intervene on Dannatt

Downing Street yesterday denied that the Prime Minister had intervened to block a Conservative peerage for former Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt.

But The Sunday Times claimed that conversations between Downing Street and Mr Cameron's office had made it clear that the nomination must be deferred. A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Brown had "no role" in the process of vetting nominations for political peerages and had not intervened.