Brown 'fully supports' Harman

As the row over the Labour donations scandal continues, Number 10 has said that Gordon Brown is "fully supportive" of Harriet Harman.

The Electoral Commission confirmed on Thursday that Scotland Yard would be investigating Labour's acceptance of more than £650,000 from David Abrahams via intermediaries.

But a spokesman for the prime minister said on Friday that Brown was "fully focused on the business of government and has made clear he is keen that all the issues regarding party political donations are investigated thoroughly".

Amid reports that a rift had developed between Labour leader and his deputy Harman, who is also the party's chairman, the spokesman said Brown was "fully supportive of the leader of the House".

And Harman insisted that she had not "dropped" Brown in trouble.

"I strongly maintain that I have complied with the letter and the spirit of the law and I absolutely think that Gordon Brown has absolutely done the same," she told reporters.

Hain

Pensions secretary Peter Hain has also become embroiled in the row after he admitted failing to register a £5,000 donation for his deputy leadership bid from Labour's chief fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn.

Hain pledged to take "immediate steps" to register the donation, blaming an "administrative error" for the problem.

"In the light of recent events, it has come to my attention that a donation from Jon Mendelsohn to my deputy leadership campaign was mistakenly not registered with the Electoral Commission," the minister said.

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 requires details of all third party donations to be registered and reported to the Electoral Commission.

It has also emerged that despite Brown's leadership campaign team rejecting a donation from Janet Kidd, who was acting as a proxy for Abrahams, because she was not personally known to them, it had recommended that Harman seek a donation from Kidd for her deputy leadership campaign.

Harman has pledged to return the £5,000 she accepted "in good faith" from Kidd, not realising it was originally from Abrahams.

'Anger'

Earlier, Jack Straw had spoken of his "profound anger" over the situation.

The justice secretary insisted he and the prime minister had "absolutely no knowledge" of the situation, but acknowledged that Mendelsohn's role would have to be investigated.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that few people in the Labour Party knew of the activities, adding: "It's not legal, and it's not appropriate.

"And it's not just a matter of profound irritation but profound anger to everybody involved in the Labour Party, 99.9 per cent recurring, who are completely straight and upstanding.

"I can't tell you how irritated the rest of us are about this."

Regulation

The justice secretary stressed the need to "improve regulation", but said the "culture" of politics has changed profoundly.

"Sadly, that change of culture has not reached every part of the Labour Party," he added.

Conservatives, who have been questioning whether it is tenable for Harman to continue as Labour chairman and Commons leader, have welcomed news of the police investigation.

"We welcome the fact that the case has been referred to the police," said shadow minister Chris Grayling.

"The prime minister himself has said the law has been broken, and it is vital that all the circumstances are now investigated fully by the appropriate authorities."