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Osborne under fire over donations Cameron warns Hain over donations
(about 4 hours later)
Shadow chancellor George Osborne is facing questions after reportedly accepting £487,000 from donors last year without fully declaring the sum. David Cameron has warned Peter Hain's "time will be up" if he fails to answer all questions about his failure to declare £103,000 of donations.
He blamed unclear advice from a Commons official for his failure to report the funds to the Register of Members' Interests, the Mail on Sunday says. The Tory leader said Work and Pensions and Welsh Secretary Mr Hain "will have to go", if he cannot explain himself.
The story follows criticism of Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain for also failing to declare donations. Mr Hain blamed "poor administration" for failing to declare the donations to his Labour deputy leader bid last year.
Labour MPs have accused the Tories of hypocrisy and called for an inquiry. Mr Cameron defended shadow chancellor George Osborne, who is accused of not properly declaring £487,000.
'In order' The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Osborne did not declare the donations towards running his shadow ministerial office to the Register of Members' Interests.
Mr Osborne is reported to have received money from some of Britain's wealthiest people to help run his shadow ministerial office. 'Completely different'
Among them were banking heiress Lady Serena Rothschild and hedge fund entrepreneur Hugh Sloane. But Mr Cameron told BBC One's Andrew Marr programme that was a "completely different" matter, as Mr Osborne had declared the money to the Electoral Commission.
The funds are said to have been channelled to Mr Osborne's office through Conservative headquarters after the donors requested he received a specific sum. Mr Cameron said the Conservatives had sought advice on whether to also declare the money to the members' register - and been effectively told they did not have to.
These and other donations were declared to the Electoral Commission as required, but not to the Register of Members' Interests. I think if he goes on like yesterday I think his time will be up David Cameron
"All these donations are declared and published by the Electoral Commission," he said.
In a statement on Saturday Mr Hain, who came fifth out of six contenders in the race to succeed John Prescott last year, blamed poor administration for his failure to declare £103,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission - he did declare £82,000.
But he said to suggest he had attempted to hide anything was "absurd" and said all those who had contributed were "eligible and legally entitled to do so".
'Explain yourself'
He did not answer any questions following his statement - despite questions about the role of the Progressive Policies Forum think-tank, which channelled money to his deputy leadership bid.
On Sunday, Mr Cameron told the BBC: "I think if he goes on like yesterday I think his time will be up.
George Osborne is a close friend of Tory leader David Cameron
"I think it's no good when all these questions are being asked just to sort of come out and read out a statement and then scurry back indoors again."
He added: "If I was in the prime minister's shoes I would say to Peter Hain: 'Look, you've got to get out there, you've got to explain yourself; you've got to answer all of the questions and if you can do that, then maybe your job is safe but if you can't you will have to go.'"
'Administrative shortcomings'
But on the same programme, Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown defended Mr Hain adding: "I think these so far are shown to be just administrative shortcomings and, as you've reported in this programme today, the shadow chancellor has similar problems.
"It seems to me we've set up a party funding system which is set up to fail in a way."
Schools Minister Jim Knight also told Sky News Mr Hain should not resign over what was "an administrative problem".
But the Lib Dems' schools spokesman David Laws said that Mr Hain's position looked "increasingly unsustainable".
The problems with donations to Mr Hain's campaign emerged at the end of November, amid a separate row involving donations by proxy to the Labour Party over several years.
This is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the Tory party Labour MP Kevan Jones Send us your commentsThis is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the Tory party Labour MP Kevan Jones Send us your comments
Rules state that MPs must disclose the identities of donors who give more than £1,000 if the money is linked to their membership of the House and "expressly tied to the Member by name". He said he had discovered a £5,000 donation to his deputy leadership bid had not been properly declared but days later said other donations had not been properly reported either.
Mr Osborne, who is a close friend of Tory leader David Cameron, said he was now seeking a ruling from the Commons standards committee on the matter. Last week he gave a full list of undeclared donations to the Electoral Commission, totalling £103,156.
The Mail on Sunday said he blamed Commons registrar Alda Barry whom he said originally told him his declarations "were in order", but now says her advice may have been "unclear". Meanwhile Mr Osborne is reported to have received money from some of Britain's wealthiest people to help run his shadow ministerial office.
Labour MP Kevan Jones told the paper: "This is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the Tory party, who lecture others on probity and donations yet have myriad scams disguising the true funders of their party." Tory 'hypocrisy'
On Saturday, Mr Hain blamed "poor administration" for his failure to declare more than £100,000 given to his unsuccessful bid to become Labour's deputy leader. The funds are said to have been channelled to Mr Osborne's office through Conservative headquarters after the donors requested he received a specific sum.
He said the senior civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions was "satisfied" that none of the donations had breached the ministerial code. Mr Cameron said steps were taken to check where the money had to be declared - the Conservative chief whip had arranged a meeting with the Commons registrar and he said they had an e-mail saying "effectively, they don't need to be declared".
But Conservative Monmouth MP David Davies, who made an official complaint about Mr Hain's failure to declare donations, said it was "slightly arrogant" of the Welsh secretary to say he had done nothing wrong. Mr Osborne is now seeking a ruling from the Commons standards committee on the matter.
The Tories say they are holding off on calling for Mr Hain's resignation until the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner reports on the matter. But Labour MP Kevan Jones told the Mail on Sunday: "This is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the Tory party, who lecture others on probity and donations yet have myriad scams disguising the true funders of their party."