The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, launched a wide-ranging review of party political funding yesterday, as he fought-off suggestions of Labour "sleaze" in the aftermath of the Formula One affair.
During a noisy question time in the Commons, the Prime Minister defended the decision to exempt Formula One racing from the proposed tobacco advertising ban as the "right decision for the right reasons".
At the same time Mr Blair said the review of party funding - which will consider the case for state funding - would produce "a level playing field" between the parties.
The Tory attack on Labour - acutely embarrassed by the reluctant disclosure that the Formula One chief, Mr Bernie Ecclestone, had given the party a £1 million donation last January - was obviously restrained by the still-fresh memories of the party's own "sleaze" difficulties.
The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, taunted a government "in turmoil and confusion" over the issue, and challenged Mr Blair to say if other sports could now be granted exemption on the Formula One criteria. And the Tory leader landed one blow on the prime minister, when he declared: "I'm not accusing the Labour Party of being paid to break their promises - they break them for free all the time. That's what happens when a party seeks office without a principle, value or belief to its name."
But Mr Blair was more directly wounded by the intervention of the Independent MP, Mr Martin Bell, who won the Tatton seat at the election against disgraced former Tory minister Neil Hamilton, with both Labour and Liberal Democrat support.
Mr Bell, resplendent in his trademark white suit, told Mr Blair: "The perception of wrong doing can be as damaging to public confidence as the wrong-doing itself." And he asked: "Have we slain one dragon only to have another take its place with a red rose in its mouth?"
Mr Blair said that was precisely why Labour had sought the advice of Sir Patrick Neill, the new standards watchdog, and agreed to return Mr Ecclestone's donation.
Turning his fire on the Tories, Mr Blair said that was a decision which they would never have taken. When a Labour MP, Dr George Turner, asked if all parties in the Commons should be asked to "open their books" for the past five years, Mr Blair agreed: "You are absolutely right. They have never disclosed any of the donations that they have made and they haven't even paid back Asil Nadir's £360,000" - this in reference to the fugitive tycoon believed to have given large donations to the Tories.
Mr Blair yesterday asked the Committee on Standards in Public Life to study all the issues relating to political party funding and to have its recommendations ready by next summer. Mr Blair told MPs: "Sir Patrick Neill will be able to make his recommendations and then we will all be playing on a level playing field."