Brown: 'Unlawful donations will be returned'

Gordon Brown admitted today that more than £600,000 (€834,296) donated to the Labour Party through middlemen had not been lawfully declared and would be returned.

The UK prime minister told reporters the Labour Party would take advice on future safeguards on receiving donations after David Abrahams’ disguised donations came to light.

“What has happened, where political donations have not been lawfully declared, is completely unacceptable, cannot be justified in any way, and this behaviour should never happen again in future,” he told a Downing Street press conference.

Mr Brown said he did not know about the issue until Saturday evening.

He added: “The money was not lawfully declared so it will be returned.”