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Hain faces quit call on donations Hain faces sleaze watchdog probe
(about 1 hour later)
Plaid Cymru has called for Peter Hain's resignation after fresh revelations about the funding of his failed Labour deputy leadership bid. Peter Hain has been reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner after he admitted failing to declare more than £100,000 in donations.
Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid's parliamentary leader, said the work and pensions secretary's position was "untenable". The watchdog will investigate whether the work and pensions secretary broke the rules on MPs' conduct over gifts to his Labour deputy leadership bid.
The call comes after it emerged a trustee of a think tank which channelled £25,000 into Mr Hain's bid was also the campaign's treasurer. Mr Hain said the failure to declare donations was an innocent mistake.
The cash in the form of five donations was not declared to the authorities. Plaid Cymru earlier called for Mr Hain's resignation following new revelations about the donations.
Mr Hain, who is also Welsh secretary and MP for Neath, is under fire after failing to declare more than £100,000 in donations to his deputy leadership campaign. Standards Commissioner John Lyon will now prepare a report for the Parliamentary Standards Committee, which has the power to suspend Mr Hain from Parliament, if it decides he broke the rules.
More than £25,000 in donations and a further loan of £25,000 were made by individuals through the Progressive Policy Forum, a little-known think tank, which does not have a website and whose registered address is a solicitor's office in London. It has emerged that a trustee of a think tank which channelled £25,000 into Mr Hain's bid, John Underwood, a former Labour communications director, was also closely involved in the financing of the campaign.
The cash in the form of five donations was not declared to the Electoral Commission.
More than £25,000 in donations and a further loan of £25,000 were made by individuals through the Progressive Policy Forum, which does not have a website and whose registered address is a solicitor's office in London.
Failed to declareFailed to declare
The money was then passed to Mr Hain's campaign but not declared to the Electoral Commission as donations.The money was then passed to Mr Hain's campaign but not declared to the Electoral Commission as donations.
One of the think tank's trustees, John Underwood, a former Labour communications director, was also the treasurer of Mr Hain's deputy leadership campaign, the BBC understands.
In a statement on Thursday evening, Mr Hain admitted he had failed to declare more than £100,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission.In a statement on Thursday evening, Mr Hain admitted he had failed to declare more than £100,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission.
He said: "I had reasonably assumed that the arrangements in place for deputy leader campaign would be sufficient to ensure compliance with reporting requirements."He said: "I had reasonably assumed that the arrangements in place for deputy leader campaign would be sufficient to ensure compliance with reporting requirements."
He said all of the individuals who had given money to the Progressive Policy Forum were asked if they were happy for the cash to be transferred to his campaign.He said all of the individuals who had given money to the Progressive Policy Forum were asked if they were happy for the cash to be transferred to his campaign.
But the BBC has spoken one donor who said that he was not consulted. But the BBC has spoken one donor who said that he had not been consulted.
'Dynamite''Dynamite'
A spokeswoman for Mr Hain said that he stands by everything he said in his statement and will not be making any further comment. A spokeswoman for Mr Hain said he stood by everything he had said in his statement and would not be making any further comment.
Plaid's Mr Llwyd told BBC Wales the latest revelations meant Mr Hain's position was no longer tenable. Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru's leader in Parliament, told BBC Wales the latest revelations meant Mr Hain's position was no longer tenable.
He said: "John Underwood was treasurer of the campaign - he must have known of donations.He said: "John Underwood was treasurer of the campaign - he must have known of donations.
"Yesterday I didn't say Mr Hain should consider his position, but today's revelations are dynamite."Yesterday I didn't say Mr Hain should consider his position, but today's revelations are dynamite.
"More than sorrow than in anger, I am forced to say his position is untenable."More than sorrow than in anger, I am forced to say his position is untenable.
"This appears to be playing fast and lose with the law and cabinet ministers can't do that.""This appears to be playing fast and lose with the law and cabinet ministers can't do that."
'Innocent oversight'
Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said the revelations were "quite extraordinary".
"Failing to declare £100,000 of donations, which is the equivalent of the maximum spending limit on a Conservative leadership campaign, demonstrates breathtaking incompetence".
But the Labour MP for Battersea, Martin Linton, who was part of Mr Hain's campaign team, defended what he described as an "innocent oversight".
"Anyone who's worked with Peter Hain - which I've done over the years - would know that it could only be what he says it is - an honest innocent oversight - and he's very sorry for it."
Mr Hain finished last in the five-way race to replace John Prescott as Labour's deputy leadership, a contest won by Harriet Harman.
His campaign is thought to have spent heavily on courting trade union support and, in the final days of the contest, took out advertisements in national newspapers.