Annex 77
Letter to Mr John W Thomas from the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter of 19 October in answer
to my letter of 19 September regarding appeals for Party funds.
I am afraid that I must pursue the matter further
as your letter of 19 October does not provide the information
I am seeking. My purpose in writing to you as Secretary of Leicester
East Constituency Labour Party was to ask you whether, having
checked the official minutes, you are aware of any appeal for
funding which requested serving councillors in the constituency
to give a percentage of their allowances, whether on a regular
basis, or not, for any purpose.
You chose to answer my question as though it
referred to only to you personally, whereas item 1 in my letter
of 13 July referred to any knowledge you might have of any such
appeal or fund raising scheme—not necessarily initiated
or run by yourself.
As you know, I first approached you for information
on this subject on 13 July so the matter has been outstanding
now for over three months. In fairness to Mr Vaz I wish to bring
my inquiry to a conclusion as soon as possible. I therefore must
have an answer as a matter of urgency to all the questions
listed in my letter of 19 September, a copy of which I attach
for your convenience.
I would be grateful for a response by 30 October.
25 October 2000
| 
