Doherty: No song help from former Libertine

Pete Doherty laughed off reports he asked former bandmate Carl Barat to write songs for his new album but refused to rule out another Libertines reunion.

It was reported earlier this week that Doherty, currently working on a new album with his band Babyshambles, was enlisting Barat’s help but the star denied it.

He said: “I haven’t heard that one. Carl’s not in Babyshambles. Mind you, it’s not a bad idea.”

The pair recently reunited with fellow Libertines John Hassall and Gary Powell for a handful of comeback gigs before going back to their solo projects.

Doherty said he enjoyed the gigs, the first since the band fell apart in 2004, but said anymore reunions depended on what his bandmates wanted to do.

He said: “I enjoyed it and I think Carl did but he is very difficult to decipher. We might play live again but an album I doubt, or it could be the other way round.”

The Libertines have continued to attract new fans since they collapsed when Barat fell out with his joint frontman because of Doherty’s wayward behaviour as he battled drug problems.

Their debut album, 'Up The Bracket', was named the best British album of the past decade in a survey of musicians and industry figures by music magazine NME.

Doherty was speaking at a launch for his new jewellery range, Albion Trinketry, in Westbourne Grove in west London.

He helped design the 15-part collection, which includes cufflinks, rings and chains, with jeweller Hannah Martin.

He said: “It happened the way these things do in life: you meet someone and talk about ideas, and those ideas merge into jewellery as opposed to songs.”