Labor’s Hands Caught In The Cookie Jar
A growing scandal over illegal campaign contributions appears to be swamping the British Labor party. The British media is going bonkers on this one, it is the lead story all over the place. The funds were illegally funneled into Labor coffers in what certainly looks like a quid pro quo to get approval for a construction project a developer wanted.
Gordon Brown today vowed to return nearly £600,000 of "illegal" donations as the Labour sleaze scandal intensified.
In a desperate bid to restore the party's dwindling credibility, the Prime Minister branded the cash gifts as "completely unacceptable" and unlawful.
He also revealed the property tycoon at the centre of the affair had tried to donate to his own leadership bid through intermediaries.
But the PM's campaign team had turned it down as they were only accepting gifts from known supporters.
As an underfire Mr Brown adopted a hard-hitting approach to tackle the mounting crisis, it also emerged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been called in to investigate.
The CPS, whose job is to decide when prosecutions are brought for suspected breaches of the law, has held talks with the Electoral Commission, which is the official watchdog on party funding issues.
Speaking at his monthly press briefing this morning, even Mr Brown acknowledged that the donations had broken the law.
But it is unclear if anyone will face prosecution.
At least one head has rolled, politically speaking over the scandal but there appear to be others lined up for sacrifice. This is a huge hit on Labor and the polls are showing it. The Daily Mail reports that the Tories have the biggest lead since Margaret Thatcher was in office.
World news | Gaius November 27, 2007
By Anthony (Los Angeles), November 27, 2007 @ 11:25 am
First the data-loss scandal and now this — Labour won’t hang onto the government for long at this rate.