Thursday, May 29, 2008

Labour's finances - the mire rises

Oh dear me. Five weeks to find £7.45 million. I would have thought that tapping up someone rich for that sort of scale of spoondoolicks would be difficult given the current state of unpopularity of Gordon Brown and Labour. How's Sainsbury's doing these days?

Senior officials in the Labour party, including Gordon Brown, could become personally liable for millions of pounds in debt unless new donors can be found within weeks, the Guardian has learned.

The party has five weeks to find £7.45m to pay off loans to banks and wealthy donors recruited by Lord Levy, Tony Blair's former chief fundraiser, or become insolvent. A further £6.2m will have to be repaid by Christmas - making £13.65m in all. The sum amounts to two-thirds of the party's annual income from donations.

The figures are a conservative estimate as they do not include interest that will also have to be paid. A Labour source said that although the total debt was listed as £17.8m on the Electoral Commission website, the true level, with interest, was nearer to £24m.

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