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THE diaries of the "White House call girl" have been subpoenaed by Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater special prosecutor, as he weighs the possibility of bringing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.

Sherry Rowlands, 37, a £130-an-hour prostitute, kept meticulous notes of her encounters with Dick Morris, President Clinton's most trusted political adviser. Mr Morris was forced to resign last month when the Star newspaper reported details of their year-long affair. Since then, her "White House Love Diaries" have been splashed across the tabloid's pages, to the chagrin of Mr Clinton's staff.

Most of the material in the diaries is merely personally embarrassing. But tucked away amid the lengthy accounts of the couple's trysts in his £300-a-night hotel suite are some grave political indiscretions from Mr Morris.

What particularly grabbed Mr Starr's interest was Mr Morris's pillow talk about the First Lady. Miss Rowlands noted in her diary that Mr Morris described Mrs Clinton as the prime mover in the scandal when confidential FBI personnel files on leading Republicans were taken to the White House and scrutinised by political fixers.

If Mr Starr finds evidence that Mrs Clinton was behind the FBI file scandal, she will be in deep water

That action was unethical and probably illegal, and the White House has consistently denied that Mrs Clinton had anything to do with it. But Mr Morris remembered it differently when questioned by Miss Rowlands on one of their trysts. "It was Hillary," Mr Morris replied when Miss Rowlands asked who was to blame for the scandal. "She ordered them. She's a paranoid lady; she did it."

Last week, Mr Morris was asked by a congressional committee to provide a written account of Mrs Clinton's involvement. In his submission, he denied any knowledge of Mrs Clinton's role and said he had merely told Miss Rowlands what everyone at the White House assumed.

If Mr Starr finds evidence that Mrs Clinton was behind the FBI file scandal, she will be in deep water. The affair is regarded by Republicans and Democrats as a serious abuse of executive power. A senior member of Mr Starr's team has put the chances of Mrs Clinton being indicted at "better than even" on other matters related to the couple's financial investments of the 1980s.

Miss Rowlands recalled overhearing Mr Morris tell Mr Clinton on the telephone that "there's never been a president ousted because of shady deals only" and that he should distance himself from "Hillary's little Whitewater mess". "You must not at this point get in the firing line; you must disassociate," Mr Morris allegedly told Mr Clinton.

So far, Mr Morris has been proved right, and there is no evidence that the Clintons' Whitewater problems have had any impact on the polls. In any case, it is highly unlikely that Mrs Clinton or any senior member of the White House staff would be indicted before the election on Nov 5, which increasingly looks certain to herald a second Clinton term.

6 September 1996: Clinton's disgraced aide set to spill beans in memoirs

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1996.

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