Labour denies secret fund claim

Labour yesterday hit out at a report claiming that Shadow Cabinet members were supported by a "secretive fund", saying it was based on the names of donors disclosed by the party. The Sunday Times reported that several "previously anonymous" millionaires had given money to the Labour Front Bench Research Fund. The names had been supplied under the party's policy of disclosing donations of more than pounds 5,000 in any one year, but the Sunday Times report will keep up the pressure on the Labour leader's own "blind" trust, which - like a similar one for the deputy leader, John Prescott - does not disclose its donors. John Rentoul

Leading article, page 14