Harriet Harman: the party’s over

As Downing Street today tried to play down reports of a rift between Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman over the proxy donations to the Labour Party, Harman has quietly cancelled a Christmas party she was due to host next Wednesday in central London. The irony is that the party was a fundraiser for Harman: friends and acquaintances had bought tickets in an effort to help her pay off the debts incurred by her successful election campaign for the deputy leadership.

The party was to be held at the Sound club in Leicester Square. Everyone who bought tickets has now been told the party is off - and that their money will be reimbursed. No reason was given.

Harman's decision comes as some in the Labour Party believe her position as deputy leader is becoming untenable after the issue became "personal" yesterday between her and Gordon Brown. (Continued below)

Harman's and Brown's problems began when the property tycoon David Abrahams was discovered to be funding the Labour Party through four associates in order to "maintain his privacy". He gave a total of £650,000 to the party over a period of four years.

The trouble for Harman was that one of the donations, for £5,000 via Abrahams's secretary Janet Kidd, was paid on July 17 directly to the Harriet Harman deputy leadership campaign fund. As a report on The First Post this week discovered, out of a total of 18 donations made this year, adding up to more than £46,000, it was the only one made not by a trade union or an individual personally known to Harman or one of her campaign team.

Yesterday, Harman said in her defence that the Janet Kidd donation came about because her team was advised by Brown's former leadership campaign manager Chris Leslie to approach Kidd as a possible donor. But Harman and her team were not made aware that Kidd was acting as a proxy for Abrahams.

Asked today whether she had "dropped Gordon Brown in it", Harman replied: "No, absolutely not. I strongly maintain I have complied with the letter and spirit of the law and I think Gordon Brown has done the same."

The prime minister's spokesman said Gordon Brown was "fully supportive" of Ms Harman and "focused" on running the country - while the police launch an investigation into Abrahams's donations.