New information suggests that Tony Blair personally intervened when he was Britain's prime minister to secure Formula One's exemption from the tobacco advertising ban.

Previously secret documents appear to show Blair personally intervened to secure Formula One's exemption from a tobacco advertising ban hours after meeting the sport's boss, Bernie Ecclestone, reported the Sunday Telegraph.
Commons Speaker Michael Martin pledged to look into MPs' complaints that the documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the then prime minister lied about his involvement.
The British government always maintained that the decision was not made straight after a 1997 meeting between Blair and Ecclestone, who was a major party donor at the time. But the new documents suggest the then PM ordered ministers to find a way of exempting F1 from the tobacco advertising ban after the meeting with Ecclestone on 16 October of that year.
Blair rejected claims he "deliberately misled" Parliament when he was prime minister.  "There is nothing new here,” said a spokesman for Blair. “All these issues were known and debated at the time, and the documents released are entirely consistent with Tony Blair's answers at the time." (pi)