British government ministers are facing pressure to give a detailed explanation of why they lifted a Whitehall ban on the accountancy firm which audited collapsed US energy giant Enron.
With the Conservatives strongly disputing Downing Street's account of how the long-standing ban on Arthur Andersen was lifted, the Liberal Democrats challenged the British government to publish key documents.
The aftermath of Enron's bankruptcy is washing over figures from both New Labour and the former Conservative government, with former Tory energy secretary Lord Wakeham facing calls to stand down as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission over his Enron connections.
The British Prime Minister's official spokesman has described as ``overheated nonsense'' claims that the government's energy policy was influenced by the £36,000 in donations which Labour received from Enron.
Number 10 also went to exhaustive lengths to dismiss suggestions that Labour might have lifted the ban on the firm's auditors, Arthur Andersen, working for Whitehall because of that company's links with Labour. The ban on Arthur Andersen, imposed in the wake of the De Lorean car scandal in Belfast, was lifted soon after Labour came to power in 1997.
The company was well known for courting senior Labour figures while they were in opposition and seconding personnel to help the party.
Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor insisted: ``The issues with Andersen go beyond the settlement of the De Lorean case - it's about the whole culture of support and links between big business and the Labour party and its possible influence on government. These issues remain.
``The government should release the full text of the advice given on settling the De Lorean case and lifting the ban on Andersen's Government work - what the officials were asked, and how and why that changed from the view taken under the Conservative government.''
PA