Bernie at center of new political scandal

(GMM) The political controversy surrounding Bernie Ecclestone's secret £1m 'donation' to the British government ten years ago is threatening to raise its head once again.

A new autobiography written by the recently departed Prime Minister Tony Blair's long time press secretary Alastair Campbell raises questions about whether Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, deliberately lied in 1997 about Bernie's payment.

Blair's New Labour party gave the money back to F1 chief executive Ecclestone when it was linked with the government's decision about whether or not to ban tobacco advertising for formula one.

Campbell suggests in his diaries that the government, including Blair's then deputy Brown, had already discussed what to do about the donation scandal three days before Brown denied all knowledge of it.

The then Chancellor Brown had said in an interview: "You'll have to wait and see, like I'll have to wait and see when the list (of donations) is published."

But, three days before, Campbell wrote in his dairy: "I spoke (about Ecclestone) to Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson and at one point during the day, all four of us were agreed.

"I thought that we should say that we made mistakes. Again, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were against on both fronts."