British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party was at the centre of an investigation on Thursday launched by the party itself into a series of large loans received last year.
Labour’s treasurer initiated the inquiry after revealing on Wednesday evening that he had not been informed about the loans given to the party by wealthy supporters in the run-up to last May’s general election.
Jack Dromey also indicated he was ready to demand answers from Blair.
Labour, for its part, said it had ”fully complied” with rules on fund-raising issued by the Electoral Commission.
The news comes after allegations that three businessmen, who lent a reported £3,5-million ($6,1-million) to Labour last year, were later nominated for a peerage that would have put them in the House of Lords, Britain’s unelected upper chamber of Parliament.
Dromey said he had not seen any evidence to suggest the loans were given in exchange for peerages and did not know whether Blair was involved in the decision to accept the money.
But he said it was vital that party funding should be transparent.
”I strongly believe in high standards in public life,” he said.
”I have, therefore, commenced an inquiry into the securing of loans in secret by the Labour Party in 2005.”
The treasurer said he would make a preliminary report next Tuesday to Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, and would ask it to set up a panel to carry out a thorough investigation.
Dromey also revealed he would ask the Electoral Commission to look into the wider issue of parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Unlike gifts from supporters, loans do not have to be disclosed in the commission’s regularly-updated register of donations to political parties.
This means that questions about the source of a particular sum of cash can normally be put off until the publication of the party’s accounts.
”The Labour Party needs to put its house in order to restore public and party members’ confidence,” Dromey said.
Asked whether he would question Blair, he replied: ”Whoever I need to talk to get to the bottom of this, I will do precisely that.”
Labour has been on the defensive since Sunday as it denied any wrongdoing in the furore over peerages offered to business leaders who have given it a financial helping hand.
Chai Patel, chief executive of the Priory Group of private health clinics, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he had made a £1,5-million loan to the party last year, just weeks before being nominated for a peerage.
The controversy deepened on Wednesday when property millionaire David Garrard confirmed that he too had loaned an unspecified amount to Labour before the election. Five months later, he was offered a peerage.
Garrard has now written to Blair asking for his name to be removed from a list of nominees. – AFP
