British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised on Tuesday to return more than ?600,000 (US$1.2 million) in illegal cash gifts from businessman David Abrahams and ordered another major reform of the way the Labour Party monitors its big money donations.
With the controversy submerging other government business, the prime minister had to tackle the crisis head-on at his monthly prime ministerial press conference in Downing Street, revealing he had brought in Labour's former general secretary, Lord Whitty, to investigate the full circumstances of the gifts.
The former bishop of Oxford Lord Harries and the crossbencher Lord McCluskey will receive Whitty's report and advise the party on how to reform its procedures, the third overhaul in five years.
A Labour spokesman said no decision had been made on whether or not to publish the findings, but Brown appeared to promise that they would.
"If the inquiry names names, these names will be named," Gordon said.
"Mistakes have been made, there will have to be changes. I will take all steps to achieve these changes," he said. "We must insist on our party imposing the highest standards in future ... what happened over these donations that had not been lawfully declared is completely unacceptable."
It was clear, too, that Brown had overruled the advice of some advisers and senior Labour party figures by insisting the money be returned.
Dianne Hayter, the chair of Labour's national executive committee, had said earlier the party was "completely entitled" to the money and some officials privately counseled against sending it back overnight.
But there was criticism of Downing Street's decision to ask Harries and McCluskey to report to Harriet Harman, the Labour Party's deputy leader.
Harman was at the center of the furor on Tuesday after it emerged she had accepted ?5,000 from Janet Kidd, one of the names used by Abrahams to funnel money through to the party.
"It is truly the politics of a banana republic when the person setting up the inquiry is herself at the heart of the investigation," said Chris Grayling, the opposition work and pensions secretary.
While Brown's announcements appeared to take some of the sting from questions, Harman offered another example of what some regard as her tin ear in a crisis by delaying, until Tuesday evening, before promising to return the cash she had received for her deputy leadership campaign.
Shortly before the prime minister spoke at noon, Hilary Benn, the British environment secretary who also contested the deputy leadership, saying that he had been offered money via Kidd from Abrahams for his campaign but had refused to disguise the true source of the donation.
It emerged that Lady Jay, the former leader of the Lords, had made him aware of Abrahams' intention. After Benn refused, Abrahams made a ?5,000 donation openly.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number