By IRNA
London : Works and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain could become the first casualty of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government after being reported for failing to declare over Pnds 100,000 (Dlrs 200,000) in donations.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner John Lyons will investigate whether the cabinet minister broke the rules on MPs’ conduct over gifts he received for his unsuccessful campaign to become Labour deputy leader last summer after receiving an official complaint.
The investigation comes after Hain was forced to admit on Friday night that he failed to declare 17 donations totalling Pnds 103,155, which he insisted was an innocent mistake, despite the amount being more than the Pnds 82,000 that he did disclose.
The prime minister’s official spokesman Friday said that the minister, who is also Welsh Secretary, had Brown’s full confidence but Elfyn Llwyd, the parliamentary leader of the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, said his position was no longer tenable.
“This appears to be playing fast and lose with the law and cabinet ministers can’t do that,” Llwyd told the BBC. He said it was more than sorrow than in anger, that he was “forced to say his position is untenable.”
The opposition Conservative’s shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling also said Hain’s admission was “quite extraordinary”.
“Failing to declare Pnds 100,000 of donations, which is the equivalent of the maximum spending limit on a Conservative leadership campaign, demonstrates breathtaking incompetence,” Grayling said.
Brown’s ruling party is also facing police investigations into illegal donations of more than Pnds 600,000, including one paid to House of Commons leader Harriet Harman in her successful campaign to be deputy Labour leader.
During his political career, Hain has held several government posts, including as Northern Ireland Secretary and a former Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East.