British police are to be called in to probe illegal funding of the ruling Labour Party, election authorities said on Thursday, in a new blow to embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The Electoral Commission said it would refer the probe into contributions from a businessman made via other people in breach of funding rules to London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for further investigation.
"The Commission has now decided to refer matters to the MPS for further investigation," said a spokeswoman, adding that it would submit a formal report to the police yesterday.
The first step in the inquiry, which will be carried out by officers from the Met's specialist and economic crime command, will be to review the Commission's referral report.
The funding row started last weekend, when press reports revealed that property developer David Abrahams gave more than ?600,000 (US$1.2 million) to the Labour Party through four friends or associates.
Those revelations triggered the resignation of the party's general secretary and a flurry of developments since then have seen the party's chief election fund-raiser under pressure to explain his actions.
Brown admitted that the donations were not lawful and announced a series of investigations.
On Thursday Brown's office said he had nothing to hide.
"The Labour Party will co-operate fully and in every way with the inquiry. What happened was unacceptable and it is in the public interest that every question is answered," a spokesman said.
But the row is a fresh blow to the British leader, who came to office vowing greater openness, as it has echoes of the "cash for honors" affair which dogged his predecessor Tony Blair's last year in power.
Two of Blair's closest aides were arrested as part of the police corruption probe over whether seats in the unelected upper House of Lords were illegally sold to wealthy party donors. Nobody was prosecuted.
Labour's opinion poll ratings have nosedived in recent weeks, with a survey released on Thursday evening putting the Conservatives ahead 11 points, while another one gave them a 13-point lead -- their biggest lead for 19 years, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
While on a visit to Washington, opposition leader David Cameron told Britain's Channel 4 News television that he thought Brown "should have referred the matter to the police himself."
"The prime minister said that law-breaking had taken place and so that's right ... If he didn't know what was going on in his party, then it raises very serious questions about his own ability and his own integrity," Cameron said.
Cameron described as "extraordinary" assertions by Labour's general secretary and chief fund-raiser that they were unaware that the donations were unlawful.
During a rowdy question-and-answer session in parliament on Wednesday, Brown vowed to come clean over party funding.
"What happened was completely unjustifiable. It has got to be investigated as a matter of urgency," he said.
"I am determined to make sure that political party finances are above board," Brown said.
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