The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, considered accepting a second donation to the Labour Party from the Formula One chief, Mr Bernie Ecclestone, according to letters which were published last night. The release of the letters between the Labour Party and the standards watchdog, Sir Patrick Neill, followed a request by the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague. He urged Mr Blair to publish the letters, which had promp ted the return of Mr Ecclestone's donation of £1 million in January and a decision to turn down his alleged second donation.
Responding to the allegation that Mr Blair knew Mr Ecclestone was considering a second donation to the Labour Party, a Lab our spokesman insisted last night that Mr Blair had decided the party would not accept a second donation once F1 had been exempted from the proposed ban on tobacco advertising.
The letters dealing with the alleged second donation, dated November 7th, say the Labour Party was unsure of accepting the gift "but we wish to be advised whether this is a position which we need to maintain". However, Mr Ecclestone has denied he offered Labour a second donation. In an interview with the Daily Mirror today, Mr Ecclestone said: "I haven't offered one single penny more than the donation I made last January." He said he did not want his £1 million back. "They can keep it. It was for the greater good of the country." Also today in a letter to the Times, Mr Ecclestone said he wrote to Sir Patrick to ask him to reconsider his decision to advise Labour to return the money. He said Sir Patrick's recommendation that Labour repay the money is "well-intentioned but wrong".
The letter from Labour's general secretary, Mr Tom Sawyer, to Sir Patrick said: "The gift or offer of it did not and could not influence our approach" in exempting F1 from the proposed ban on tobacco advertising but, Mr Sawyer added: "In truth, most businesses are involved with government in some degree or other."
Sir Patrick's reply said: "My own opinion is that while no criticism can fairly be made of the receipt of the first donation, in the light of the way government policy has developed, ministers could well conclude that in the special circumstances of this case, their freedom of action would be, and would be seen to be, enhanced, if the donation were to be returned."
In a BBC radio interview, the former prime minister, Mr John Major, whose leadership of the Conservative Party was dogged by allegations of sleaze, said while Labour had deliberately attempted to maximise the sleaze issue during the election campaign, in the light of its own difficulties over party funding it had failed to keep its own house in order.
Mr Tom King MP, a former cabinet minister and member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said Mr Ecclestone seemed to have "bought access" to the Labour Party. (Additional reporting by PA)