Labour MPs to table motion attacking Desmond donation

Tony Blair insisted last night that Labour had done nothing wrong by accepting a £100,000 donation from the newspaper publisher Richard Desmond.

But Labour MPs attacked the party for accepting money from the Express Newspapers owner because his empire includes soft-porn magazines. There were growing demands for the money to be paid back.

Ian Gibson, the Labour MP for Norwich North, called on the party leadership to reveal any other donations made in the period before rules requiring immediate disclosure took effect in February last year. "Let us clear the decks and get back to real politics and public service delivery," he said. "We should give [the donation] back, as we did with [Formula One boss] Bernie Ecclestone."

Although Downing Street criticised the media's reporting of the donation, there was little sign of the controversy dying down. Some horrified Labour MPs were discussing plans to table a Commons motion criticising the party's decision to accept Mr Desmond's money.

Alice Mahon, MP for Halifax, said: "What Richard Desmond does exploits women, and that's not what the Labour Party's about. We're in favour of equality, and as somebody who's been in favour of promoting the position of women all my life, then obviously somebody like Richard Desmond is the last person I would want to support and finance the Labour Party."

Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, a Labour peer, said: "If you want to maintain the high ground, then I think it's very important that you look at whether the money is actually in any way tainted, and I do think this is tainted money."

But a Blair aide said: "Political parties have to raise money. Richard Desmond and his company are perfectly entitled to give money to any political party they choose and the Prime Minister does not see anything improper about this donation at all."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman admitted that raising money was the part of the job that all politicians liked least, adding that it had to happen to fund a democracy.

But the Tories stepped up the pressure on Labour. David Davis, the Tory chairman, wrote to Mr Blair demanding that he disclose the extent of his involvement in securing the money. He called on the Government to create an independent watchdog to investigate allegations of impropriety linked to political donations.

Mr Davis asked Mr Blair to disclose details of his meetings with Mr Desmond since he came to power, the names of those attending, and the subjects discussed. He asked when Mr Blair had been made aware of the £100,000 donation and whether he or anyone else at Downing Street had raised the issue of Mr Desmond's "acceptability" as a donor.

Kevin Brennan, MP for Cardiff West, told the Commons that state funding for political parties should be considered to prevent smear stories by Tories.

Graham Allen, a former government whip, said: "With every alleged sleazy donation the Labour Party in general and the Prime Minister in particular are pushed closer to a proper system of state aid for political parties."

Mr Blair is increasingly attracted by state funding, but is reluctant to press ahead unless there is all-party consensus. The Tories oppose the idea.

Mr Desmond's Northern and Shell company defended the gift, saying it was made in a "fully transparent manner".