The Hindu : International : Tony Blair in peerage row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 13, 2006

International

International

Tony Blair in peerage row

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: A British Asian businessman has accused the Labour Party of running a "bazaar" where anyone willing to give money to the party can hope to get a seat in the House of Lords.

In what has been dubbed a "donation-for-peerage" scandal, Chai Patel, who runs an upscale healthcare company, has claimed that within weeks after he agreed to give a £1.5 million loan to the Labour Party, he was told that his name was recommended for peerage.

But his nomination, along with two others, has been blocked by the Appointments Commission which oversees all nominations amid allegations of peerage being handed out in return for donations to the ruling party.

Mr. Patel (51), who previously donated £100,000 to Labour, disclosed in a newspaper interview that the party approached him last summer for an unsecured loan, which he agreed to give. He said he did not expect anything in return, but barely weeks after giving £1.5 million, he was told that Prime Minister Tony Blair had nominated him for a peerage.

Mr. Patel said his name was unfairly dragged into the controversy, which he blamed on the Labour Party. Denying that he gave the money expecting a peerage in return, he told The Sunday Times: "Absolutely not. If they said, `you will get this by signing this,' I would have walked out of the room."

Mr. Patel said the honours system seemed to have been "reduced to a bazaar where people are saying, `what was the price of the peerage?'"

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