Politics Weekly for Thursday December 6

Gordon Brown's hopes of a calm countdown to Christmas appeared slim this week as the row over party funding rumbled on. Peter Hain, the work and pensions secretary, had to apologise after he failed to declare some donations to his Labour deputy leadership campaign. Wendy Alexander, the Scottish Labour leader who is a key ally of Gordon Brown, was also fighting for her political life after accepting an unlawful donations from a Channel Island businessman for her leadership campaign.