Jowell cleared of financial wrong-doing

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code of conduct, after saying her husband did not tell her of a £350,000 gift he received.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell said that Ms Jowell had not breached the code of conduct for ministers over money received by her husband David Mills.

However, Sir Gus said that she accepted that her husband should have told her about the gift.

Speaking after the ruling, Ms Jowell said: "I have always discharged my responsibilities under the ministerial code in good faith."

Prime Minister Tony Blair also said: " Tessa Jowell is an excellent minister who is widely respected. I have full confidence in her."

The payment in question was alleged to have been made to Mr Mills by Italian Prime Minister in return for helpful testimony in a corruption trial in the late Nineties. Italian prosecutors had claimed that the money was a bribe.

Mr Mills had denied that the money had come from Mr Berlusconi.

Ms Jowell said that if she had known about the money, she would have reported it to her Permanent Secretary, in compliance with the code.

She insisted that she did not know of the existence of the money until August 2004, by which stage Mr Mills told her that he thought it was a gift, but it had been classified by the Inland Revenue as earnings so that tax had to be paid on it. As a result of this, there was no obligation to report it, because it had been designated as earnings.

However, the row over Mr Mills, an international lawyer, and his financial dealings is still continuing. There have been fresh claims made by Italian prosecutors, that he used his wife's name and their friendship with Mr Blair in dealings with potential clients in Dubai.

(KMcA/GB)