Labour's Lies Over Illegal Donation ; Alexander Under Growing Pressure to Quit

Summary

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SCOTTISH Labour leader Wendy Alexander's political future hung in the balance last night after it emerged that she had sent a personal letter of thanks to an illegal donor. Miss Alexander wrote to millionaire tax exile Paul Green at his home on Jersey thanking him for a Pounds 950 donation to her leadership campaign. Yet when it was revealed that Mr Green's cash broke electoral law, she insisted she had no idea he was an overseas donor. The damning letter emerged only 24 hours after Miss Alexander's aides had insisted she believed the money had come from a UK company. Last night she was facing growing pressure to step down as Labour leader - and the threat of a police investigation.

Damagingly, it transpired that a previous offer of cash from property developer Mr Green to a Glasgow Labour MP had been turned down because party officials knew it would have broken the law. Yesterday, a furious Mr Green released the letter and launched a scathing attack on Labour's lies over the donation. He said: 'I cannot understand why they continued to maintain that the donation had come through a UK company when I had a letter from Wendy Alexander thanking me personally.' First Minister Alex Salmond indicated that he thought a police investigation of the affair was now appropriate.

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Labour's Lies Over Illegal Donation ; Alexander Under Growing Pressure to Quit

He said: 'When there has been assumed or even suspected illegality, that is normally the best way to deal with this. 'I don't think there is credible argument that somehow people are ignorant of the law that the Labour Party itself introduced.' Scottish Tory deputy leader Murdo Fraser questioned whether the debacle was 'a cock-up or a cover-up'. He said: 'When Wendy Alexander signed her letter to Mr Green, did she not ...

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