Embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday suffered his first Cabinet loss since taking office when a minister resigned amid allegations of funding irregularities.
Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain said he had "no alternative" after a complaint about his failed bid to become the governing Labour Party's deputy leader last year was referred to police.
He also resigned as Welsh Secretary, vowing to clear his name. James Purnell moves over from the position of culture secretary to replace him at work and pensions, but not in the Welsh Office, which will be led by Paul Murphy.
After issuing a fresh apology for failing to declare more than £100,000 (US$198,000) on time, Hain pledged to cooperate with the police and other inquiries.
Hain's position had become increasingly precarious since the row came to light last November, and he seemed virtually certain to quit after Brown appeared to give him only qualified support in an interview last week.
Although the prime minister said Hain made a mistake and there was no corruption, he described the situation as an "incompetence."
Brown told Hain in a letter made public by the prime minister's office: "I recognize that, given the circumstances and your desire to clear your name, this is the right and honorable thing to do."
Kenya-born Hain -- who came to prominence as a firebrand anti-apartheid campaigner in the late 1960s -- is the first minister to resign from Brown's government since he took over from Tony Blair as prime minister last June.
The 57-year-old faces the prospect of suspension from parliament if complaints are upheld that he failed to declare the funding to the Electoral Commission.
The main opposition Conservatives say he broke parliamentary rules, which require donations to be registered, and that his resignation was "inevitable."
Hain has blamed "poor administration" for the undeclared money rather than a coverup.
The row is a fresh blow for Brown as he seeks to claw back an opinion poll deficit from the Conservatives.
Their leader David Cameron, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, told Britain's Sky News television: "He's made the decision today. I think it's the right one, but the prime minister shouldn't have allowed it to go on so long."
Brown's pledge to usher in greater trust and transparency in government took a hit late last year over revelations of illegal proxy donations to Labour.
The party was already seeking to recover from the effects of a previous scandal, in which Blair's administration was accused of illegally nominating wealthy donors to seats in parliament's unelected upper House of Lords.
That saw Blair become the first serving British prime minister in history to be questioned by police, although no charges were brought.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS