Scotland's first minister elect Jack McConnell is embroiled in further controversy following a tabloid's claim that he lobbied Scottish MPs to pay the wages of the woman he was having an affair with.
Scottish Labour has acknowledged that a request was made but stressed that it came from the party as a whole.
Despite pleas for privacy from McConnell's former press officer and lover, Maureen Smith, Scotland's Daily Record has continued its investigation into the affair it dubs the "Trousergate scandal".
The influential Labour-supporting tabloid, which last Friday launched a "Stop Jack" campaign, reveals that four senior - unnamed - MPs received a letter asking for the cash to help pay Smith's wages.
McConnell is then alleged to have appeared in person, "with Smith at his side", in a Westminster committee room, to appeal directly to a monthly meeting of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party.
The Record quotes one MP as saying: "We got a letter saying that because of a lack of funds, they were going to have to get rid of the press officer. If the MPs would give £100, that would help her stay in her job. Jack McConnell came to a meeting of the Scottish group at the Commons and asked us to contribute. That was back in 1994. She was with him at the meeting."
Another MP told the newspaper that when rumours of an affair between McConnell and Smith began to circulate, "Everybody was hopping mad about it. I contributed and a substantial number of other MPs did so too. We were furious."
The BBC quotes Independent MSP Dennis Canavan, a Labour MP at the time of the affair, as saying: "I can well understand some of my erstwhile colleagues at Westminster feeling a bit concerned that perhaps they were pressurised or duped into paying what amounted to a job creation scheme for the general secretary's girlfriend."
Scottish Labour MPs contribute one per cent of their salaries to the UK party and another one per cent to the Scottish organisation, and the Record claims the additional money McConnell sought "came on top of the levy".
Labour's treasurer, Bob Thomson, told the BBC that the appointment of the press officer was not at the disposal of the general secretary.
"Any appointments are made by a fair and open selection procedure which conforms to equal opportunity and other personnel selection methods," he said.
