Hain: 'I made innocent mistake'

Peter Hain today resigned as British Work and Pensions Secretary, saying he had “no alternative” after the Electoral Commission referred a probe into his deputy leadership campaign to the police.

He wrote to Prime Minister Gordon Brown: “In view of the Electoral Commission decision today I have come to the conclusion that I now have no alternative but to resign as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales.”