Well the gits gone. There was a lovely article in Private Eye this week about how Inland Revenue is going to accept "administration errors" for delayed self assesment tax returns.Peter Hain resigns from Cabinet
Mr Hain came fifth of six in Labour's deputy leadership race
Peter Hain has quit the Cabinet after his deputy leader campaign donations were referred to the Met Police.
Mr Hain, work and pensions secretary and Wales secretary, said he had stood down so he could "clear my name".
He quit within minutes of the Electoral Commission saying that it had decided to refer the late declaration of £103,000 of donations to the police.
Mr Hain has blamed poor administration and has said the suggestion he tried to hide anything was "absurd".
He is expected to make a statement later on Thursday. It is the first ministerial resignation of Gordon Brown's premiership.
The Electoral Commission said it would be up to the Metropolitan Police to decide whether to investigate the donations.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said it was the right decision.
He said the key questions were what Mr Hain knew and the status of the Progressive Policies Forum, through which some of the donations were channelled.
He added: "A whole host of questions will come out of it. But they'll be now for the police to answer, not for us."
Mr Hain joined Labour in the late 1970s after leading the campaign against the apartheid regime in South Africa, going on to be one of its longest-serving ministers.
But his bid to replace John Prescott as his party's deputy leader ended in failure when he came fifth out of six contenders and his campaign was left with huge debts, which it tried to clear by seeking donations from wealthy individuals.
Mr Hain declared 17 of these donations - totalling £103,000 - more than four months after the contest ended, placing him in potential breach of electoral law.
The Electoral Commission said it had decided to call in the police following a "thorough review" of the late donations.
The investigation will be carried out by the Metropolitan Police Specialist and Economic Crime Directorate - the same unit that investigated cash-for-honours allegations last year which led to no charges being brought.
The investigation will be led by Acting Commander Nigel Moore.
Commons leader Harriet Harman, who won last year's deputy leadership race, paid tribute to Mr Hain earlier during business questions in the Commons.
She told MPs: "I regard the work my right honourable friend has been doing (as) important work for people in this country and I personally regard him as an excellent colleague and a good friend."
He jumped. He wasn't pushed
BBC political editor Nick Robinson
Health Secretary Alan Johnson, a fellow challenger for Labour's deputy leadership last year said he was "absolutely" shocked by Mr Hain's resignation but could understand why he had done it.
"I'm really sad, because it's a big loss for us," he added.
Mr Hain's Conservative work and pensions shadow, Chris Grayling, said his resignation was "inevitable".
"What is important now is for Gordon Brown to take rapid action to restore effective leadership to a department that has clearly been distracted by the events of the last few weeks."
Giving his reaction, Lib Dem work and pensions spokesman Danny Alexander said: "The transition from Blair to Brown feels increasingly like the transition from Thatcher to Major."
Here's to seeing at least one of Blairs cabinet end up in Prison.
As an aside I have real trouble recognising anyone left in the cabinet anymore.
