UK:Health secretary Alan Johnson found himself at the centre of continuing controversy yesterday when the Electoral Commission said it was "not aware" he had tried to register a number of campaign donations with it before last December, writes Frank Millar, London Editor.
In a robust statement on Sunday, Mr Johnson insisted he had been "100 per cent honest" and fulfilled his legal obligations following newspaper claims about the late disclosure of four donations - including one paid by "proxy" - to his Labour deputy leadership campaign last summer.
Mr Johnson and his campaign manager said all donations had been properly reported to the commission within the required 60-day limit last May, and that they had become aware only in December that four of these were not shown on the commission's website.
As a result Mr Johnson was asked "to resubmit them all again", which he did. The minister also raised the possibility that the non-appearance of the donations on the watchdog's website was the result of "problems at their [ the Electoral Commission's] end".
However, a spokesman for the commission declined to comment on this yesterday, telling The Irish Times it was still "seeking to clarify" the situation while confirming that the donations had been reported on December 6th.
This did not contradict anything in the account given by the health secretary, who yesterday won the backing of prime minister Gordon Brown.
However, the commission's continuing failure to confirm Mr Johnson's statement kept the story alive just days after Peter Hain's forced resignation from cabinet after the commission asked police to investigate his late disclosure of £103,000 (€138,000) in campaign donations, and amid continued speculation that deputy leader Harriet Harman will be questioned by police about her acceptance of a "proxy" donation from property developer David Abrahams.
The businessman who encouraged his brother-in-law to write a cheque for Mr Johnson's campaign apologised yesterday, saying it had been an innocent mistake and that he had been travelling abroad at the time and had not thought to disguise the source of the contribution.