Alan Johnson accepted money from a foreigner, declared another donation late and took a cheque from a proxy, The Times has learnt.

The Health Secretary became engulfed in Labour’s donations’ controversy over the weekend after claims that one gift to his failed deputy leadership campaign came from an immigrant who had no idea who he was.

Waseem Siddiqui, 50, said that wrote a cheque for £3,334 on the instructions of his brother-in-law Ahmed Yar Mohammed, treasurer of Croydon Central Labour Party, who then gave him the money.

Mr Mohammed said yesterday that he had not intended to disguise his donation but had asked Mr Siddiqui to make the donation because he was travelling.

Mr Johnson vigorously denied any wrongdoing. The donation had been properly investigated and declared, he said. His campaign admitted that it had taken another donation from an impermissible donor and had failed to“ register a third cash gift with the MPs’ register of interests for six months.

Although one minister and Johnson supporter admitted to “some confusions” in the campaign, the Health Secretary’s spokesman denied that it had been sloppy. The impermissible donation - £1,000 from Noel Harwerth, an American businesswoman – had been returned as soon as it was realised that she was not on the electoral roll and not entitled to give the money, he said. The late declaration of another gift, from Songlines Ltd, was an innocent oversight, he added.

Questioned about the donation from Mr Siddiqui, Mr Johnson said that everything had been above board and there had been no impropriety.

“We did what the law asked us to do. We checked that he is on the electoral roll, we checked that he is registered to vote in this country,” Mr Johnson said.

“We also checked, although we are not required to, whether he was a member of the Labour Party, and he is a member of the Labour Party.”

Mr Mohammed said that he had asked his brother-in-law to make the donation in good faith and said that he would be writing to the Electoral Commission to clarify his actions.

With the Opposition remaining silent it seemed that Mr Johnson’s assurances would be accepted, although at some cost to his reputation for competence.

The development was also a deeply unwelcome distraction for Gordon Brown as he seeks to steady his administration after the resignation of Peter Hain, the first Cabinet victim of police investigations into Labour donations.

The present row over a proxy donation follows the revelation that £630,000 in donations were channelled to Labour by David Abrahams, a property developer, through intermediaries. The eventual winner of the deputy leadership contest, Harriet Harman, now Leader of the Commons, has also admitted indirectly accepting £5,000 from Mr Abrahams.

She is being investigated by the commission, as is Wendy Alexander who accepted £950 from a donor in Jersey during her successful attempt to become Labour’s leader in Scotland.

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