LIB DEMS “EMBARRASSED” BY LINK TO MICHAEL BROWN

THE arrest of the man who bank-rolled the British Liberal Democrats at the last election has only added further fuel to the debate raging over political party funding in Britain and the Lib Dems were forced to admit that Michael Brown's arrest is “embarrassing” for the party. Brown spent the weekend in a top-security prison near Madrid and is expected to be extradited to Britain to face 53 charges, including fraud. The Lib Dem's deputy leader Vince Cable said on Sunday that the party's links to the Majorca-based Scotsman is “embarrassing.” Brown donated £2.5 million to the Lib Dems at the last election and Cable has been quick to stress there has “never been any suggestions” that the party did anything improper. “It is embarrassing, the things he's said and the things he's subsequently done. It illustrated the wider point that for any political party, including ours, to be dependent on big private donors is not acceptable and we do need to change the system to have a cap on donations,” Cable, who is also the Lib Dem's treasury spokesperson, said.