By DPA
London : Veteran British Labour politician Peter Hain resigned from the cabinet Thursday after admitting that he failed to declare more than 100,000 pounds ($196,000) in election campaign donations.
Hain, 58, has been a member of the Labour government since the party ended years of Conservative rule in a landslide victory under former prime minister Tony Blair in 1997.
Hain, a former prominent anti-apartheid campaigner, said he was stepping down from his dual post as Work and Pensions Secretary and Secretary of State for Wales to clear his name in the controversy.
Minutes earlier, the Electoral Commission watchdog had announced that it was referring the affair to the Metropolitan Police.
Hain has said he “forgot” to register the 103,000 pounds in donations he received for his campaign to run for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party under Prime Minister Gordon Brown last year.
His resignation, eight months into the Brown government, Thursday revived memories of the “end of the Blair era” which had also been tainted by a party financing scandal, commentators said.