British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is facing renewed allegations that he sought a bigger role at the Queen Mother's funeral as a newspaper printed a memo it says contradicted Mr Blair's version of events.
Mr Blair, whose government's popularity has been dogged by perceptions it is obsessed with image and "spin", had sought to bury the embarrassing row with the media by publicly denying the reports. But Sunday newspapers refused to let it go.
The Mail on Sunday, one of the papers which made the initial allegations, said a memo from parliamentary official Mr Michael Willcocks, proved that Mr Blair's Downing Street office had tried to inflate the prime minister's role despite his denials.
The paper quoted Mr Willcocks, who in his role as "Black Rod" was in charge of the Queen Mother's lying-in-state, as saying officials exerted "sustained and constant pressure" in a bid to change existing arrangements and boost Mr Blair's presence.
"What's the PM's role... won't the PM be meeting the coffin...surely the PM greets the Queen?", were some of the Downing Street queries the paper quoted Mr Willcocks as mentioning.
The story hit headlines on Tuesday after Britain's media watchdog, the Press Complaints Commission, announced Downing Street had dropped its complaint about the media allegations, prompting howls of mockery from the papers concerned and Mr Blair's opponents.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the story, the latest reports will not help Mr Blair's determination to shake off his party's reputation for excessive spin-doctoring.
The row has put increased pressure on Mr Blair's image surpremo, communications director Mr Alastair Campbell. He was the driving force behind the Labour Party's 1997 election campaign, has carefully crafted their image in government and was the one who decided to take the funeral row to the PCC.
A Downing Street spokesman was quoted as saying the new reports changed nothing.