Labour peer faces explusion
A Labour peer who donated money to a candidate from a rival party to fight the general election could be expelled by the Labour party.
Lord Haskins, one of Labour’s biggest donors, handed £2,500 to Danny Alexander – the Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber – during the election campaign.
Mr Alexander, who beat the constituency’s Labour candidate by over 4,000 votes, is a personal friend of the Labour peer from their work for pressure group Britain in Europe.
Labour officials have written to Lord Haskins and given him 14 days to confirm or deny the allegation.
A spokesman for the party told politics.co.uk: “If the allegation is true, then the Labour party’s rules make it clear that he is no longer eligible to be a member of the Labour party.”
Tony Blair reportedly backs the expulsion of the peer, who is chairman of Northern Foods.
The controversial donation was revealed by the Electoral Commission, which last week published details of the monies contributed in the latter days of the election campaign.
Jim Gray, agent for the defeated Labour candidate David Stewart, and a number of Scottish MPs demanded a probe into the donation.
Mr Gray said friendship was an insufficient a reason for funding the Lib Dems’ campaign.
Lord Haskins disagreed saying personal friendship trumped party loyalty.
The industrialist donated £10,000 to Labour during the 2001 general election campaign, but has since scaled back his contributions.
