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Brown in funding row

LONDON: The Labour Party, still reeling from the cash-for-honours scandal, was on Tuesday embroiled in yet another funding scandal after it emerged that some £600,000 it received in donation from a property developer was not “lawfully” declared, sparking allegations of sleaze.

The party general secretary, Peter Watts, was forced to resign after admitting that the donation was not properly reported to the Electoral Commission as required under funding rules.

An embarrassed Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose leadership has come under pressure following a series of damaging controversies in recent weeks, announced that the party would return the money.

“The money was not lawfully declared, so it will be returned,” he declared as the opposition called for a police investigation to establish whether the secret donations were linked to any favours the donor, David Abrahams, may have got from the government in return.

Mr Brown said payments that were not properly accounted for “could not be justified” and announced an inquiry to “get at the bottom of all this”.

Grilled by journalists, he claimed that he had “no knowledge” of the donations. Mr Brown also denied that he knew Mr Abrahams, a long-time Labour supporter and a conspicuous presence at party events, or had ever discussed money with him.

The controversy erupted when newspapers reported that questions had been raised about the source of the £600,000 donation that the party had received over three years — most of it recently after Mr Brown took over as Prime Minister.

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