London reaction:Sir Ronnie Flanagan won the backing of the British Home Office last night after SDLP leader Mark Durkan led calls for his resignation as head of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
In a short statement a spokesman said: "Ministers have full confidence in Sir Ronnie Flanagan as her majesty's inspector of constabulary. Sir Ronnie's time as chief constable of the RUC is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office and does not affect his position as HMCIC."
The Irish Times was told that the statement carried the authority of home secretary John Reid. It came shortly after Northern Secretary Peter Hain and PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde were questioned on Channel 4 News about Sir Ronnie's position, and where responsibility ultimately rested for the collusion between elements of the RUC special branch and north Belfast UVF in yesterday's report by Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan.
Downing Street appeared taken by surprise when asked if they endorsed the Home Office statement. The prime minister's official spokesman would only say: "The Home Office has stated the position."
Asked if it was also Mr Blair's position, the spokesman repeated: "The position is as stated."
Downing Street, the Home Office and the NIO had earlier refused to comment on Sir Ronnie's position. The prime minister's spokesman noted that Mrs O'Loan's report did not name or make comment about individual officers.
In its first response yesterday afternoon, the Home Office said it would be inappropriate to comment as Mrs O'Loan's report related to Sir Ronnie's time as RUC chief constable and not to his current position as chief inspector of constabulary.
The Northern Ireland Office had likewise declined to comment after Mrs O'Loan's conclusion that the officers working with paramilitary informers could not have operated without knowledge and support at the highest levels of the RUC and its rebranded successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Mr Blair's spokesman said yesterday's report was "deeply disturbing" about events "which were totally wrong and should never have happened". The fact that they did was "a matter of profound regret" shared by the prime minister.
However, the spokesman stressed: "This is also a report about the past, and what is important now is that new structures introducing a lot of information about the PSNI means these events could not happen again."
What mattered at this stage, the spokesman said, "is that the whole community supports that process of transformation".
Mr Hain said the ombudsman's report found that the investigation into the brutal murder of Raymond McCord jnr in 1997 "was fundamentally compromised because of the corrupting relationship between elements of the then RUC special branch and informants within the UVF in north Belfast".
Mr Hain said there could be "no hiding from the findings of this comprehensive and thorough report" and no attempt to justify the failings exposed within parts of the special branch at the time of Mr McCord's murder.
Mr Hain said those involved - a small number of officers - had failed in their fundamental duty to protect the community. However, that failure "was in marked and stark contrast to the thousands of courageous RUC men and women who behaved throughout the most dangerous and difficult times with professionalism and integrity".
That point was echoed by David Lidington of the Conservative Party, who said nobody reading the ombudsman's report could be "anything but disturbed and distressed by what it has uncovered".
He said there could be no justification whatever for police officers who are charged with upholding the law, and from whom society expected the highest standards, seeking to undermine the law in any way.
"Those special branch officers who have engaged in collusion of any form with members of an illegal terrorist organisation have done a grave disservice to themselves, the organisation in which they served, and to their country," said Mr Lidington.
However the Conservative spokesman also hit out at Sinn Féin, saying: "Of course there will be those who seize on [ this] report to further their own campaign of smear against the RUC, often as a means of diverting attention from their own complicity in terrorism."
He said that "without the sacrifice of the RUC" there would have been no peace process.