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From The Times

December 4, 2007

‘You can’t quit over donations row – or Harman may be next’

Scottish Labour Party Leader Wendy Alexander

Angus Macleod and Philip Webster

Gordon Brown’s election chief, Douglas Alexander, ordered his sister not to resign as Scottish Labour Party leader for fear of causing fallout throughout the Cabinet.

The disclosure that Mr Alexander put pressure on his sister, Wendy Alexander, came as Peter Hain admitted failing to register donations properly and as the Prime Minister tried to rally his demoralised party at a meeting of backbenchers.

If Ms Alexander had resigned over an illegal £950 donation, pressure on Harriet Harman to step down as Mr Brown’s deputy over an illegal donation of £5,500 could have proved irresistible. Ms Harman is further being investigated over a failure to declare a £40,000 mortgage to finance her leadership campaign. The latest embarrassment will increase pressure on Mr Brown to strip her of her role as party chairman.

It also emerged that Ms Harman’s husband, Jack Dromey, was at the top of a secret list of approved candidates to be given safe seats in the event of a snap election.

The Times has learnt that Mr Alexander, the International Development Secretary and one of Mr Brown’s closest Cabinet allies, delivered the stark message to his sister on Sunday afternoon. Mr Brown is also understood to have urged Ms Alexander to stay on.

Sources in Ms Alexander’s camp say that until Sunday afternoon she was on the point of resigning because of the turmoil the illegal donation to her leadership campaign was causing her and the party. One source told The Times: “She was completely down and incredibly angry. She wanted to go but then the message came from London: you must stay. After that we had to decide how to present her decision as a decision made by her.”

Mr Hain admitted that other donations to his campaign had not been properly registered. He has already said that a £5,000 gift from Jon Mendelsohn, Labour’s fundraiser, had not been registered, but yesterday he told the Electoral Commission that others had not been notified. Mr Hain, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said he was reviewing all donations to his campaign and apologised for the “extremely regrettable” events. “I am preparing a declaration to the Electoral Commission,” he said.

Labour sources told The Times that it had been made plain to Ms Alexander that if she fell on her sword over the illegal money from a Jersey-based businessman, it would be difficult for Ms Harman not to follow suit. “That would have left Gordon incredibly exposed,” the source said.

Ms Alexander’s position is different from Ms Harman’s because she wrote to her benefactor thanking him for the donation and because of suggestions in her own camp that it might be questionable. Ms Harman was alerted to her £5,000 donor by Mr Brown’s leadership team and maintains that she did not know that it was originally from David Abrahams.

Ms Harman’s failure to declare a £40,000 mortgage extension taken to pay off campaign debts is under investigation by the Electoral Commission. Her campaign team admitted that a shortfall of £22,808, had “so far been met by a loan to the campaign from Harriet Harman”. The mortgage extension, taken out with her husband in February, had helped to pay off an earlier loan that had been properly declared, it added.

The Times has learnt that Mr Brown put Mr Dromey at the top of a secret list of candidates to be given safe seats in the event of a snap election. Mr Dromey would almost certainly have joined Ms Harman in the Commons had Mr Brown held an autumn poll. The union official declined to comment last night. Ms Harman and Mr Dromey insist that they had no idea that Mr Abrahams was making cash gifts to the party.

Mr Brown told the Parliamentary Labour Party that he would deal with the scandal “rigorously and surgically”. “I am as furious as anyone,” he said, before spelling out his proposals to break the deadlock on party funding, which include changes to the trade union levy.

— Paul Gray, the official who quit after taking the blame for the loss of two discs containing bank details of 7 million families, is back at work on a plan to improve civil servants’ skills, two weeks after he resigned as chairman of HM Revenue and Customs.

I for one am sick to death of hearing all the calls for resignation-these people made mistakes albeit no doubt by assistants -does anyone think mrs Alexander would risk her career for 950 pounds?.It is just another way for these politicians to scream foul for political means .Anyone can make a mistake but in a real world they can say sorry and try to make amends,accept a rebuke and repay the money would do for me -I prefer all of them would get on with improving the running of our country instead of reverting to the punch and Judy stuff that mr Cameron promised to get rid of .I wrote to congratulate him on winning the leadership election,believing what he promised -a different way of debate -sadly it seems I was wrong -maybe I need to resign from writing comments!.

I believe the real question is about whether this is corruption or just an administrative mistake by very busy people -I believe I t is obvious it is the latter ,so I suggest we consider whether we are always perfect

Phil, London,

Oh that another Gilbert was around to record a continuing farce for posterity. When civil servants resign honourably following some disaster our politicians sit tight as if they are impregnable. Wendy A is told not to resign by her brother because it will have consequences. Aren't these two politicians children of the manse? Where is there integrity?
The government brought in the 2000 Election Law to deal with unacceptable practices. When politicians turn a blind eye to their own laws, up pops John Denham to say that these politicians aren't corrupt. Well can we say that they are criminals?

Tom Jackson, Stockport, England

Not only did Wendy not require a campaign fund ... no contest
but the major part of the Â£17000 raised has evaporated. Balance reported as less than Â£1500.

Buddie, Sutton Coldfield, U.K.

sad story, sad people, conflict of interests and (ongoing) infringment of law! this is what Labours are today!

riccardo, brussels,

The last few days have shown up Gordo's 'new style' of government, for precisely what it is....it is Blair's same old bundle of tales and spin, but this time told by someone with, at best, 10% of the ability (or should it be 'believability') his predecessor...!!! If you've got any b**ls, Mr Brown, call an election now....

Jeremy Sutcliffe, Northwich, Cheshire, UK

This has effectively buried the other two issues, hasn't it? Er,... what were they?

Leak all this out in dribs and drabs and our attention is directed where the magician wants it while he,...

how did he hide that rabbit in the top hat?

Derrick, MK, UK

We are used to asking, 'did they fall or were they pushed?' in regard to politicians and the like. Seems now it should be were they 'bound and gagged' or 'kept under lock and key?'

Judi Martin, Maryculter, Aberdeenshire

Wendy Alexander is an embarrassment to Scotland and must go now!

Mark Shaw, Bearsden, Scotland

People whitout honour....but with a lot of cash!

riccardo, brussels,

There is a direct correlation between the soulless and subtly devious politicians who have taken the stage over the last 15 years and the deterioration of the political, social and economic institutions over which they have influence.

Politics is a business for the politicians, run by the politicians, manipulated by the politicians to fill their pockets, increase their pensions, do deals and increase their inflated egos so that they can go onto some consulting job financed by some government that they did favours for at the expense of their own constituents and country.

Politicians, many of whom are lawyer are now legalized thieves. Arrogant and without an iota of integrity. Politics is a business for those who know they can spin any yarn and walk away with a pot of gold even when caught and convicted.
Politics has now become a game, a super â€˜conâ€™, another endless â€˜soap opera

JC, Lisbon,

I never thought it possible but this evil bunch are even more sleazy and dishonest than Blair's gang. Surely they must realise how bad they look in the eyes of the electorate and how dishonourably they have behaved. They are beneath contempt.

paul turfery, Cork, Ireland

Labours = shameless people

riccardo, brussels,

Brown cannot sack them all. There are not enough "clean" Labours around!

riccardo, brussels,

I do not know why the public is getting excited, then again if they are like me no we are not. Labour will not fall on their swords, too many years of noses in the trough has made them immune to anything that the Press and public throw at them, time for a change methinks....

Jim, Norway,

Excuse me, but why exactly does Ms Alexander need a donation to a "leadership campaign" when she was the only candidate?

Dave, Manchester, UK

and Labours are the people who for the last decade have being saying they were pure, honest, transparent, and all that crap...

riccardo, brussels,

They think we are gullible fools and idiots, they treat us like gullible fools and idiots - and we are gullible fools and idiots for letting them get away with it

Cassandra, Rolvenden, England

Paul Gray quit, we are told by Alistair Darling "As a matter of honour", when a "Junior Official" failed to follow some administrative rules.

We now have countless senior members of the Government and Labour party that seem to be without honour, who will not resign when they failed in their duty to abide by laws that they put in place,

When they break the law, they only consider it "regrettable"

They are without honour, and so is Gordon Brown for failing to make them resign or sacking them.

Moral compass? The compass Brown inherited was a geometry one, ideal for spinning.

Eddie, Cheshunt, UK

Linking up with David's comment above, ignorance is no excuse in the eye of the law...hmmmm. So next time you accidentally go up a one way street or exceed 30mph by 5...that can be your defence and there is this clear example by our government that ignorance IS an excuse.

Mary Heaney, London,

What business does london labour have in ordering the head of the labour party in scotland not to resign.
This type of London interference has done alot of damage and is the reason the scottish people returned a party in the scottish parliment that cannot be ordered to do anything by london masters. The people of scotland will justifiably punish the increasingly sleezey and tarnished labour party and the union too

Patrick, Glasgow, Scotland

These shameless and power crazy New Labourites can cling on to their jobs for now but they are in for shock in the next general election. Short term gain, long term pain awaits.

Tom, St. Albans, England

This labour government are raking around the dust bin

john, DUNFERMLINE, scotland

The Alexanders are beneath contempt; Douglas for telling his sister not to resign, she for supinely obeying him - and all to stop Brown being 'exposed!' Had Ms Harman and Ms Alexander resigned, Brown would have been left smelling of roses and could have announced an enquiry in relatively cleared air. As it is ...

Jethro Hughes, St. Maurice de Lignon, France

These are people singularly without honour.

They do the country a very great disservice by perpetuating the suspicion that there is one law for politicians and another for the electorate.

Ubi, Edinburgh, UK

Remember this strategy -- deny, "regret", ignore -- next time you get a speeding fine. It wasn't me; I wasn't there; I cannot recall; I didn't know; I'm as angry as anyone; it's a wider issue; we need a full enquiry; it would be inappropriate for me to comment until the enquiry has reached its findings. By some weird twist of reality, it is possible that it does not work quite so well in your case as they expect it to in theirs.

David Masu, ZÃ¼rich,

An excellent story - great journalism chaps.

And the final paragraph is beyond satire !!

Celtic Connection, Wales,

Paul Gray, the official who quit after taking the blame for the loss of two discs containing bank details of 7 million families, is back at work on a plan to improve civil servantsâ€™ skills, two weeks after he resigned as chairman of HM Revenue and Customs.

What's he going to do to improve skills ......tell them to use white envelopes for confidential data?

bxf, manchester, lancs

It's all rather sordid.

People used to go into Public Life to do good deeds and if they fell short of the standards expected then they resigned and went and did good deeds quietly - John Profumo being a classic example.

Our current Government seems to have gone into Public Life for Power and its Trappings. Nothing could ever persuade them to resign with any dignity.

Tom Maxwell, Reigate,

Blimey! That was a quick come back - even by this government's standards.

Pushkin, Durham,