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By Andrew Hough Reuters - Tuesday, November 27 09:08 am
LONDON (Reuters) - Gordon Brown is set to face tough questions on Tuesday, just hours after one of the Labour party's most senior officials quit in another fund-raising scandal.
As officials admitted Brown would be "embarrassed" by the latest party funding furore, the Prime Minister is set to face the Westminster press corps at his monthly news conference.
More bad news for Brown came in the shape of an opinion poll on Tuesday that put Labour in its worst position for almost two decades.
The ComRes Poll for the Independent gave the Tories a commanding 13 point lead, enough to give them a majority if an election were held now.
It came after a torrid week that included the tax department admitting it lost the child benefit records of 25 million people, continuing fallout from the Northern Rock credit crisis and stinging criticism from five former defence chiefs over funding for the armed forces.
On Monday, Labour was left reeling after its General Secretary Peter Watt resigned following the revelation that a property developer broke party funding rules by giving hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations without revealing his identity.
Watt, in charge of party finances, said he had been aware of David Abrahams' arrangement to give almost 600,000 pounds in donations to Labour via "gifts" through friends and associates.
Under electoral law, people making donations on behalf of others must give full details of the donor.
"I was aware of arrangements whereby David Abrahams gave gifts to business associates and a solicitor who were permissible donors and who in turn passed them on to the Labour Party, and I believed at the time my reporting obligations had been appropriately complied with," Watt said in a statement.
Opposition parties said it was a return to the sleaze that had blighted former Prime Minister Tony Blair's later years in office, in which it was alleged that titles and peerages were awarded in return for donations...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071127/tuk-uk-britain-funding-fa6b408_1.html
Labour donations to be returned
Gordon Brown has said donations to the Labour Party by a property developer through middlemen were "completely unacceptable" and would be repaid.
The prime minister told reporters he had had "no knowledge" of £600,000 of donations from David Abrahams and said they could "not be justified".
"The money was not lawfully declared so it will be returned," he said. Peter Watt's resignation as Labour general secretary was "a necessary first step" but more had to be done...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7114327.stm - Links to background analysis & opinion poll on right there
Another crisis for Brown
Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website
Mr Brown had wanted to focus on his long-term plans
If there are two words Gordon Brown determined would never be attached to his premiership they are sleaze and incompetence.
Yet they are exactly the words on the lips of those challenging the prime minister over the secret donations affair.
It is claimed that either Labour Party bosses knew what they were doing over the gifts from controversial businessman David Abrahams, leading to allegations of sleaze, or they did not know, suggesting incompetence.
And, while Labour's general secretary Peter Watt has taken the rap, it is being pointed out that Mr Brown is the party leader and should have been kept informed of big donations.
The prime minister is said to have known nothing of the money and is seething at the revelations. Labour officials have also expressed their dismay, even disbelief, at the affair, insisting it was a "one off". The Tories, however, are claiming the revelations suggest there is "institutionalised cheating" in the Labour Party and questioned whether Mr Watt really did not know his actions broke the rules...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7114327.stm
Ian
LONDON (Reuters) - Gordon Brown is set to face tough questions on Tuesday, just hours after one of the Labour party's most senior officials quit in another fund-raising scandal.
As officials admitted Brown would be "embarrassed" by the latest party funding furore, the Prime Minister is set to face the Westminster press corps at his monthly news conference.
More bad news for Brown came in the shape of an opinion poll on Tuesday that put Labour in its worst position for almost two decades.
The ComRes Poll for the Independent gave the Tories a commanding 13 point lead, enough to give them a majority if an election were held now.
It came after a torrid week that included the tax department admitting it lost the child benefit records of 25 million people, continuing fallout from the Northern Rock credit crisis and stinging criticism from five former defence chiefs over funding for the armed forces.
On Monday, Labour was left reeling after its General Secretary Peter Watt resigned following the revelation that a property developer broke party funding rules by giving hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations without revealing his identity.
Watt, in charge of party finances, said he had been aware of David Abrahams' arrangement to give almost 600,000 pounds in donations to Labour via "gifts" through friends and associates.
Under electoral law, people making donations on behalf of others must give full details of the donor.
"I was aware of arrangements whereby David Abrahams gave gifts to business associates and a solicitor who were permissible donors and who in turn passed them on to the Labour Party, and I believed at the time my reporting obligations had been appropriately complied with," Watt said in a statement.
Opposition parties said it was a return to the sleaze that had blighted former Prime Minister Tony Blair's later years in office, in which it was alleged that titles and peerages were awarded in return for donations...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071127/tuk-uk-britain-funding-fa6b408_1.html
Labour donations to be returned
Gordon Brown has said donations to the Labour Party by a property developer through middlemen were "completely unacceptable" and would be repaid.
The prime minister told reporters he had had "no knowledge" of £600,000 of donations from David Abrahams and said they could "not be justified".
"The money was not lawfully declared so it will be returned," he said. Peter Watt's resignation as Labour general secretary was "a necessary first step" but more had to be done...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7114327.stm - Links to background analysis & opinion poll on right there
Another crisis for Brown
Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website
If there are two words Gordon Brown determined would never be attached to his premiership they are sleaze and incompetence.
Yet they are exactly the words on the lips of those challenging the prime minister over the secret donations affair.
It is claimed that either Labour Party bosses knew what they were doing over the gifts from controversial businessman David Abrahams, leading to allegations of sleaze, or they did not know, suggesting incompetence.
And, while Labour's general secretary Peter Watt has taken the rap, it is being pointed out that Mr Brown is the party leader and should have been kept informed of big donations.
The prime minister is said to have known nothing of the money and is seething at the revelations. Labour officials have also expressed their dismay, even disbelief, at the affair, insisting it was a "one off". The Tories, however, are claiming the revelations suggest there is "institutionalised cheating" in the Labour Party and questioned whether Mr Watt really did not know his actions broke the rules...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7114327.stm
Ian
