London: Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed today to clean up political party funding in Britain as he sought to cool a boiling row over unlawful donations to his governing Labour Party. Brown, 56,pledged he would do everything he could to ensure party financing was transparent and proper, during fiery exchanges in parliament over the latest crisis to hit his administration.

It emerged Sunday that property developer David Abrahams donated more than USD 1.2 million (600,000 pounds) to Brown's centre-left party through four friends or associates -- including one apparently unwitting Conservative voter -- in breach of funding rules.
During his weekly question-and-answer session in the lower House of Commons, Brown came under fire as opposition politicians tried to dig up who knew what and when in the affair.

"What happened was completely unjustifiable. It has got to be investigated as a matter of urgency," said Brown. "I am determined to make sure that political party finances are above board." Brown, who took over from Tony Blair in June, has seen Labour nosedive in opinion polls in recent weeks following a series of crises.

He said yesterday the donations from Abrahams were "not lawfully declared" but insisted he knew nothing about them or the practice of making them via a third party until Saturday. "The Prime Minister's whole explanation beggars belief," said David Cameron, leader of the main opposition Conservatives.

Source : PTI