Sleaze watchdog warns of cross-party stitch-up

independent:Tony Blair has been accused by the Government's sleaze watchdog of failing to do enough to restore public trust in government, following the cash-for-honours scandal.

Sir Alistair Graham has criticised Mr Blair's ethical record and called for urgent action to restore trust in public life.

The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life said he fears that Mr Blair's plans to review funding of political parties will not restore the confidence of the public. He wants the public to be able to give their views on how political parties are funded, to avoid a "stitch-up" between the parties.

Sir Alistair is understood to be frustrated by the lack of commitment by Mr Blair to ethical issues. He recently met Gordon Brown for a private meeting and is said to have been impressed by the Chancellor's interest in restoring public confidence in the Government.

Sources close to Sir Alistair said the sleaze watchdog was now hopeful that Mr Brown would inject more energy into resolving sleaze issues if he becomes prime minister. "Gordon Brown obviously takes standards issues seriously," said one source close to Sir Alistair. Read more

db: If it wasn't for the fact that the Tories have been operating similar sleazy tricks for years you would have heard a lot more from 'Dave' Cameron on the issue. As a 'Labour insider' said recently, they 'didn't invent the wheel'- and consequently thought that they would get away with it.

Of course Gordon 'Prudence' Brown knew nothing regarding the source of the fourteen million quid that was raised from Neo-Labour cronies in secret loans [strictly commercial] to fund the election campaign. Gordon takes standards very seriously - and so does Dave. Get ready to be stitched.