Hain Guilty Of 'Serious And Substantial' Failures

Former cabinet minister Peter Hain has been found guilty of "serious and substantial" failures in not registering donation to his Labour deputy leadership campaign, according to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee. The former Northern Ireland Secretary (pictured here) was cleared last month by police over his late declaration of £103,000 of donations to the leadership bid.

However, the Commons standards watchdog rapped Mr Hain, who accepted his mistakes were "honest" and added he would be making an apology on the floor of the Commons.

The Committee said the scale of the rule breach caused "justified public concern". But the committee accepted there was no "intention to deceive".

In a statement Mr Hain said: "The Cabinet Secretary stated that I complied fully with the Ministerial code, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) exonerated me and now the Parliamentary authorities have also accepted that the mistakes I made were honest mistakes.

"I have been asked to repeat my apology on the floor of the Commons, which I am happy to do."

The Committee's report also dismissed the idea Mr Hain's workload as Work and Pensions Secretary and Wales Secretary was an excuse for the errors.

The report stated: "This is a case of an experienced Member, a Cabinet Minister at the time, failing in his duty as a Member of Parliament to register donations within the time required by the House."

"We understand that the pressures on Ministers and on front-benchers can be onerous, but we cannot accept - and we are sure that none of them would suggest - that this excuses them from their obligations under the rules of the House."

The report indicated that usually the failures would have attracted a "heavier penalty", but Mr Hain had already lost his job.

(JM/BMcC)