Pressure on Blair to reveal donor

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, DEC. 2. The controversy over a ``mystery'' £ 2 million donation to the Labour Party, five months ahead of the general elections, deepened today with Mr. Tony Blair coming under increased pressure from within the party to disclose the source of the donation in order to fend off allegation of sleaze.

There was growing anxiety that if the controversy was allowed to linger it could seriously damage the party's image in the run-up to the elections. In the last elections, the Tories had paid a huge political cost on the issue of sleaze which the Labour had then made its major poll plank. With some of the top Labour guns joining the demand for transparency, Mr. Blair was seen to be left with few escape routes and, according to The Guardian which broke the story, the party was ``poised'' to ask the anonymous donor if the name could be disclosed. In a major blow, the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Mr. Clive Soley questioned the party's refusal to identify the donor. He said this would undermine the Government's own efforts to clean up British politics.

Under a new law to come into force next month, all political parties would be required to make public the names of major donors. ``We are bringing in new laws which will require all parties to be honest and open, but we appear to be acting against the spirit of the legislation,'' he said. Mr. Soley's remarks were said to reflect the concern within the party over the political fallout of the controversy in an election year. Memories of the Ecclestone ``affair'' are still fresh, and few in the party would like to see it repeated.

The Labour was forced to return a £ 1 million donation from Mr. Bernie Ecclestone, the business tycoon who runs the Formula One car race, after it was alleged that the donation was linked to the Government's decision to exempt car races from the ban on tobacco advertising. Formula One is heavily dependent on sponsorship from tobacco companies.

Mr. Anthony King, a former member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life called the Labour's conduct ``grubby'' saying it didn't look ``terribly good''. He acknowledged that the party had not broken any rules (under the present laws, a party is not obliged to identify a donor except in its annual accounts which the Labour has promised to do) but pointed out that there was a question of propriety considering that rules were going to be changed next month.

Officially, the Labour stuck to its position that it was not breaking any rules. ``If we have been given a donation on the basis that it is not disclosed, that we are satisfied it comes from a legitimate source, there is no reason why we should have to declare it now'', said the Labour M.P., Mr. Michael Foster, a member of the standards and privileges committee. Meanwhile, the controversy has led to demands for public funding of elections to avoid parties' dependence on big money.

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