Letter: Union history belies Blair fairy tale

Letter: Union history belies Blair fairy tale

Sir: The Rules of Declaration of MPs' interests ("Sleaze report casts shadow over MPs", 21 March) require an MP for a particular constituency to declare in the register if 25 per cent or over of the election fighting fund was contributed by one individual or company. Such funds are on average about pounds 8,000 in total.

I have made it quite clear to Sir Gordon Downey that if the Hammersmith Conservative Association received a pounds 500 donation in 1987 - 10 years ago - that was entirely a matter for the Association. I did not know about it at the time. At every election all political parties receive funds for elections and if Ian Greer wanted to make a donation, that is a matter for him. Furthermore, pounds 500 is well under the 25 per cent threshold and would not have qualified for declaration in any case.

I was not elected for Hammersmith at the 1987 general election. It has been a Labour seat for over 20 years. I was subsequently elected for a different constituency, Brentford and Isleworth, five years later. At no time has my present constituency association or I received any donation of any amount from Mr Greer.

All this innuendo and "sleaze" boils down to the possibility that 10 years ago, five years before I was even an MP, someone made a donation to my constituency party that I did not know about, but which in any case was perfectly legal and legitimate and would not have required declaration even if I had become the MP. No wonder the public are confused by all this. I certainly am.

NIRJ JOSEPH DEVA, MP

(Brentford and Isleworth, Con)

London SW1