BRITAIN:Former British cabinet minister Charles Clarke has warned British prime minister Gordon Brown that he risks leading Labour into a decade of opposition and that the party urgently needs to "demonstrate clarity, decisiveness and a lucid sense of direction and purpose". Frank Millar, London Editor, reports.
The unwelcome intervention by the one-time Blairite loyalist came as Labour enjoyed a brief respite from various funding controversies while the House of Commons yesterday voted to suspend Conservative MP Derek Conway. The decision followed his earlier censure for overpaying his student son from parliamentary allowances.
MPs also ordered Mr Conway to return £13,161 (€17,643) of the money paid to his son Freddie.
Sir George Young, the Conservative chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee, welcomed Mr Conway's admission of wrongdoing.
However, Sir George also said his committee was "frankly astonished that, after three years and a substantial amount of expenditure, there was no independent evidence of his [ Freddie Conway's] output or apparently anyone outside the family who had seen him working".
Mr Conway - who paid Freddie and a second son more than £80,000 from public funds to provide research assistance over a number of years - had the Conservative Party whip withdrawn on Tuesday.
He has since said he will not stand again as MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup in the next election. But that will not spare him the wrath of fellow MPs on all sides amid calls for a ban on them employing family members from parliamentary allowances.
Justice secretary Jack Straw said most MPs were "furious" about the Conway controversy because it had damaged public confidence.
Mr Brown backed Mr Straw's call for "greater transparency" in relation to MPs' expenses, while stressing that it would be for the Commons authorities to decide how best to achieve it.
"I've never understood for the life of me why MPs are not required to say who they employ," said Mr Straw. He acknowledged that many MPs employed spouses or children who worked "very hard" for them, and insisted that "what's important is the public should know about this".
Meanwhile, a week after the resignation of cabinet minister Peter Hain, Mr Clarke said he was "absolutely astonished" to learn that the party had accepted "proxy" donations from property developer David Abrahams and "amazed" by the string of rows over funding arising from Labour's deputy leadership contest last summer.
The former home secretary was speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme following the publication of an article in Prospect magazine in which he argues that "Labour still seems very unclear" about its policy approach in the present parliament, and for the next.
"Now, above all, we need clarity in each policy area," said Mr Clarke. "The current uncertainties are widespread, debilitating and give ammunition to our opponents."
While there was "no reason to surrender to the inevitability of defeat", he argued that the next election must see "a clear offer to the country which shows Labour's capacity to address the challenges of the future".
"It will not be enough simply to defend past achievements, however substantial," said Mr Clarke.