Will Powell reveal prince’s threats?

The next tranche of memoirs from Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, will be even more eagerly awaited following the ruling of Lord Justice Moses in the High Court on Thursday that the Serious Fraud Office acted illegally in December 2006 when it scrapped its inquiry into illegal payments made by BAE Systems to Saudi Arabian officials in return for arms deals.

The Saudis had been allowed to "pervert the course of justice", said the judge. They did so by threatening to withdraw intelligence co-operation and to cancel a £20bn order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons, if the bribery inquiry went any further.

In his judgment, Judge Moses said the threats were made by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to Washington (above left), directly to Jonathan Powell (above right) in his capacity as Number Ten's chief of staff. Powell, whose memoirs of the Northern Ireland peace talks were published last month, is known to be working on further autobiographical volumes about his years at Number Ten.

Prince Bandar allegedly received more than £1bn in payments from BAE. The company and Prince Bandar have both denied wrongdoing.

Judge Moses said: "No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice." And he accused the government of "abject surrender" to Saudi threats, which would only make Britain weaker and more vulnerable to future blackmail. The government has so far declined to comment. ·