British Labour Party publishes lender names

The Labour Party tried to diffuse a row over party funding yesterday by publishing a list of 12 businessmen who it said had loaned it a total of nearly £14 million.

The list included some of Britain's richest men, including property developer Sir David Garrard, who topped the list with a loan of £2.3 million.

Lord Sainsbury, a well-known Labour party donor, lent the party two million pounds as did Richard Caring, a textile magnate and owner of The Ivy restaurant in London.

The other nine men on the list were Rod Aldridge, Gordon Crawford, Sir Christopher Evans, Nigel Morris, Sir Gulan Noon, Chai Patel, Andrew Rosenfeld, Barry Townsley and Derek Tullett, who all loaned the party between £250,000 and £1.5 million each, totalling £13,950,000.

"The loans were given and received in good faith, and would have been registered in the appropriate way in our annual accounts," the Labour Party said in a statement.

"As the Electoral Commission made clear, if a loan is made on a commercial basis there is no requirement in law to disclose it." Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party have come under pressure after it was disclosed that some of the businessmen were nominated for seats in the House of Lords after lending the money.

Labour did not break any law by not declaring the loans - under current rules only donations have to be made public - but what irks some is that their party treasurer and some senior ministers did not know about the £14 million.

In its statement, Labour said that at a meeting today its National Executive Committee would propose that all future commercial loans should be declared publicly.

It also urged the opposition Conservatives to do the same.

"The Tories have not revealed the total amount of all the loans received by the party since the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act came into force, including the figures for 2005," the party's deputy leader John Prescott said.

"Neither has it so far revealed the names of those who gave loans."