Peter Hain’s hopes of returning to a cabinet position won’t be helped by today’s report from the Commons’ committee on standards and privileges.
The report has stern words for Hain’s late registration of £103,000 in January of donations to his (unsuccessful) campaign to become deputy leader of Labour.
The failure was “serious and substantial“, it says. “We therefore recommend that Mr Hain apologise by means of a personal statement on the floor of the House.”
The committee accepts there was “no intention to deceive”. It takes into account Mr Hain’s apologies and the speed with which he rectified his omissions.
This is why the punishment is not heavier: “Because of the seriousness and scale of this breach and noting the considerable, justified public concern that it has created, we would ordinarily have been minded to propose a heavier penalty.”
The committee does not explore the most interesting element of the affair, which is that a good chunk of the money came from a think-tank (the “Progressive Policies Forum”) which had no address and never published anything.
(The CPS decided not to press charges in December).
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey