Pressure is mounting on British cabinet minister Peter Hain after an official complaint was made to parliament's sleaze watchdog over his failure to declare political donations.
The office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards confirmed it had received a complaint about Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Hain. The complaint could lead to a inquiry into Mr Hain's conduct.
British cabinet minister Peter Hain
The former Northern Ireland secretary said in November he had failed to register with the electoral watchdog a £5,000 (€6,600) donation to his unsuccessful campaign last year to become the Labour Party's deputy leader because of an administrative error.
But yesterday he admitted his campaign had failed to declare donations totalling more than £103,000 (€137,000) within the time frame required by electoral rules.
Anyone who receives donations of more than £1,000 is supposed to declare the amounts to the Electoral Commission.
Mr Hain said he met the Electoral Commission yesterday and provided full details of the donations. He had been concentrating on his ministerial duties, relying on campaign officials to comply with election rules.
"I very much regret that these reports were not made on time. I should have given higher personal priority to the day-to-day administration and organisation of my campaign," he added.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said the failure to declare the money was an extraordinary oversight and claimed Mr Hain's position was untenable.
