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Hain quits over scam

LONDON: The Brown government on Thursday suffered its first casualty in the long-running scandal over political donations when a senior Cabinet minister was forced to resign for failing to declare a £103,000 donation in time.

Peter Hain, the high-profile Work and Pensions Secretary, quit after the Electoral Commission, which enforces rules on political funding, decided to report his case to the police for further investigation.

The development — the first ministerial resignation since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister last June — came as the government was trying to regain public confidence after a series of embarrassing crises that have seen its ratings plummet in recent weeks.

Mr. Hain, who received the donation when he unsuccessfully contested the Labour Party’s deputy leadership election last summer, is accused of breaching the electoral law for not filing his returns in time.

He blamed the delay on his campaign team’s poor administration and denied that he had ever intended to hide the donations.

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