Hain apologises for late accounts
Work and Pensions secretary forced into humiliating apology after failing to hit a key deadline for reporting his campaign contributions
Peter Hain has sincerely apologised for the storm created by his unreported
campaign contributions.
The Work and Pensions secretary came under fire in December after admitting
he had not declared the full list of donors that contributed to his failed bid
for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party.
Because of ‘administrative failings’ within his campaign, there were
donations to his deputy leadership bid which were not registered within the
normal time to the Electoral Commission, Hain said.
Hain had declared £82,000 but the total amount raised by his campaign team
last year is thought to top £100,000.
‘Since December I have undertaken a full audit of all donations to the
campaign and have agreed with the Electoral Commission to provide the details of
these late declarations to them, by the middle of January. I reiterate that this
is deeply regrettable and I sincerely apologise.’