UK News 17-10-2000 Call To Sack "Poison Peter" Over Robinson Book who: Tony Blair what: Implicated in latest scandal from Geoffrey Robinson book where: LONDON when: Today snippet: "Tony Blair was yesterday dragged into a damaging row after Geoffrey Robinson claimed he made cash donations to his office," says The Mirror. "The multi-millionaire, who was made Paymaster General when Labour came to power, said publicly for the first time that he donated cash, thought to be around £250,000 over three years". An official statement from the Labour Leader`s Office Fund claimed a year ago that Mr Robinson had made no such donations, but Mr Robinson`s book, The Unconventional Minister, says that he financed research for shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown. "As a wealthy businessman, I could afford it and I was happy to support the political offices of Gordon and Tony," writes Mr robinson in his book. Meanwhile, in further fallout from the controversial memoirs, parliamentary standards commissioner Elizabeth Filkin has been called to reopen investigations into Geoffrey Robinson`s £373,000 loan to Peter Mandelson in 1996. The scandal over the undeclared loan resulted in the resignation of both senior ministers in 1998, but Mr Robinson now accuses Mr Mandelson of having lied about the incident to an official inquiry. The investigation "could rebound more on Mr Robinson than on Mr Mandelson because his own book suggests that he has changed the evidence he gave to parliament," says The Guardian. Yesterday, Labour MP Diane Abbott called on Tony Blair to clean house by sacking "poison Peter", reports The Star. "As long as he is in government we are going to have this poison bubbling to the surface," she said. [... more]

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