MP admits making ‘a mistake’

TATTON MP George Osborne has admitted he made a "mistake" in becoming involved in a discussion about a possible donation to the Tory Party from Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

In his first public comments in a week, he admitted it "did not look very good" that he was present when a possible £50,000 donation was discussed with the financier Nathaniel Rothschild.

He said: "I neither asked for money nor received any and I didn’t break any rules but I think I did make a mistake."

The Tories will hope that by owning up to his mistake, Mr Osborne can draw a line under the controversy, which has dogged him for over a week.

Macclesfield Borough Council Leader and Alderley Edge Councillor Frank Keegan told the Times newspaper: "Oleg Deripaska was someone that Mandelson and Osborne should have been steering clear of, rather than going to visit on his yacht.

"One of the things we should have learnt from Blair is that you should pay for your own holidays."

Labour MP Denis MacShane, who wrote to Mr Osborne demanding answers to a set of questions about his contacts with Mr Deripaska, said: "George Osborne is still refusing to come clean with the public about the nature of the conversations he had in which donations to the Conservative Party were discussed. He has now confessed that he made an error of judgment but for the sake of clean politics he now needs to answer the questions he refused to answer last week."

The row erupted when Mr Rothschild, an old friend of Mr Osborne’s from Oxford University, accused him of trying to "solicit" a loan from Mr Deripaska while he was staying at the financier’s villa on the Greek island of Corfu. Mr Osborne has admitted meeting Mr Deripaska on his yacht but has denied asking him for any money.

He has, however, admitted that he was present when Mr Rothschild discussed the possibility of the Russian making a donation with Tory Party chief executive and fundraiser Andrew Feldman.

Their conversation included a discussion about whether Mr Deripaska, could make a contribution through his British-based company, Leyland DAF.

Under electoral law, non UK citizens are banned from making donations to political parties.

Mr Rothschild spoke out after apparently blaming Mr Osborne for a series of damaging press reports about Mr Deripaska’s contacts with Business Secretary Peter Mandelson – another old friend – who was also holidaying with them on Corfu.

Lord Mandelson, who was then the EU Trade Commissioner, has been coming under increasing pressure to explain his links with Mr Deripaska after admitting at the weekend that their contacts dated back to 2004 - two years earlier than previously acknowledged.