Blunkett hits back over Tory claim that billionaire bought Labour

Published on Friday 8 March 2002 00:00

DAVID Blunkett, the Home Secretary, demanded a public apology from his Conservative predecessor, Michael Howard, last night for alleging that the Home Office had acted on behalf of the wealthy Labour donor Lakshmi Mittal to Belgian authorities.

The claim made in newspaper reports yesterday, and shadow chancellor Mr Howard’s allegation that the government had been bought by the Indian billionaire, were "wholly untrue", Mr Blunkett said.

Downing Street strongly denied any government impropriety, saying the Home Office had simply been acting as a "post box" in passing on a request from Mr Mittal’s solicitors for information about an inquiry into alleged money laundering.

Mr Howard had earlier said he could not recall a single case of this happening when he was Home Secretary between 1993 and 1997.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "I’m absolutely astonished that it has taken place. I’m afraid the truth is that this government has been bought, and the sooner there is a proper independent inquiry into this affair, the better. I understand the Home Office are saying they do it when British citizens ask for this sort of help, I have no recollection of it, and Mr Mittal anyway isn’t a British citizen."

However, Mr Blunkett, in his letter to Mr Howard, said the matter had been handled at a "routine administrative level" from autumn 1998, when the matter first arose, but there had not been any ministerial involvement.

He said the Home Office was assisting the Belgian authorities in relation to an ongoing criminal investigation, and Mr Mittal had been asked to provide information as a witness.