SCOTTISH Labour leader Wendy Alexander today vowed to stay in her post and fight to clear her name over the illegal donation to her leadership campaign.
Her defiant pledge came as Channel Islands businessman Paul Green, whose donation of £950 is at the centre of the row, accused her team of “gross mismanagement”.
Breaking a four-day silence, Ms Alexander insisted she did not set out “intentionally
” to break the rules, but conceded: “Mistakes have been made.”
As she arrived for a meeting of Labour MSPs at the Scottish Parliament, she went on: “I have always believed politicians should have the highest standards of integrity. It would be easy to quit but also wrong.
“To give up this job in these circumstances would be also giving up my reputation for integrity and honesty and I’m not prepared to do that.”
Meanwhile speculation intensified about whether a member of her campaign team, Charlie Gordon, who has already quit as shadow transport minister, now plans to quit as an MSP.
Shortly before Ms Alexander arrived, he told reporters: “I will make an announcement about my political future later in the week.”
Ms Alexander was speaking in a statement to reporters at the entrance to the Scottish Parliament.
She began by declaring: “I have never sought to mislead.
“I am not dishonest in any way.
“My campaign did not set out to mislead anybody or break the rules.”
She said the last days had been “hard” for her, her family and for Labour.
“But I intend to fully clear my name.” she said.
She said her first duty was to keep The Electoral Commission fully informed.
But she went on: “For the record, there is repeated correspondence initiated by me personally, dealing with the issue of permissibility, and demonstrating my interest in ensuring that donations received were indeed permissible.
Arriving for the regular group meeting, Edinburgh North & Leith MSP Malcolm Chisholm denied Ms Alexander was a lame-duck leader.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “She is a very good leader and I will give her my strongest support.
“She did nothing intentionally wrong and I have every confidence in Wendy Alexander.”
Mr Green, whose donation was illegal because he is not a registered UK voter, today spoke out to defend his role in the affair.
He insisted he had regarded his donation as “above board” after assurances from Mr Gordon.
The campaign team has claimed they wrongly believed Mr Green’s donation was being channelled through a UK company, which would have made it permissible.
But Mr Green said his donation was written on a personal cheque from his Jersey address.
He said he was “angry” at being dragged into the row and denied he had been trying to buy influence.
Mr Green said: “How the Labour Party managed to get themselves in this mess, I find difficult to understand.
“I think what you have to say is that this has to be gross mismanagement.
“Just looking at it from afar, who in their right mind is going to try and hide £950? I could possibly understand if it was £9500, or £95,000, or £950,000. But you just can’t believe £950”.
He went on: “I find this very sad because I have known Charlie Gordon for a number of years and I have found him to be a very honourable and decent man.
“Charlie must have been misled or didn’t do his homework.
“From my perspective, although it’s rather unfortunate I really can’t see there was any criminal intent at all.”
The full article contains 603 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
