Britain's top policeman Sir Ian Blair was last night clinging on to his job after he apologised for secretly recording a series of six telephone conversations.

One was with Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, three with senior officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), one with a journalist and another with a member of his family.

Sir Ian was forced to say sorry to all those involved and was given a clear warning by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), his force's watchdog, that his behaviour was "totally unacceptable".

The commissioner made no public comment. Instead, his office issued a three-line statement confirming that he had apologised to Lord Goldsmith.

Sir Ian recorded their exchange because he had anticipated a complex discussion and did not have a secretary to take a note for him to refer to, the statement said.

The Attorney General, who had initially been "rather cross" at discovering he was recorded, accepted the apology.

Tony Blair's official spokesman said Sir Ian retained the Prime Minister's full confidence. And Home Secretary Charles Clarke also said he had full confidence in Sir Ian and that he considered the matter closed.

There was no public explanation of why Sir Ian recorded the IPCC calls, but the police watchdog's chairman, Nick Hardwick, who was one of those recorded, said he had accepted a personal apology from Sir Ian.

The call with Mr Hardwick was on July 22, the day Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by anti-terror officers.

Sir Ian also recorded a call on that day with the IPCC's then director of investigations Roy Clark.

He recorded another call with Mr Hardwick's deputy, John Wadham, on August 19.

Then, on September 8, he recorded the conversation with Lord Goldsmith which was about a separate issue, the admissibility of phone tap evidence in court.

After finishing his conversation with the Attorney General, he telephoned a member of his own family, but the digital recording system at Scotland Yard did not disconnect, meaning that was also recorded.

The sixth recorded call was on January 26 this year to journalist Ian Katz, of The Guardian, who had been conducting a series of interviews with Sir Ian.

The embarrassing revelations are the latest in a series of gaffes by Sir Ian and there was continuing speculation about his future.

Only six weeks ago, he was forced to apologise to the families of Soham murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after he said almost nobody understood why the killings had become the biggest story in Britain.