Former international development secretary Clare Short told the Zimbabwean government in 1997 that Labour had no obligation to fund land reform in the troubled African state.

The policy went on to prove controversial when president Robert Mugabe backed the forcible removal of white farmers from their property.

According to documents seen by the Guardian, Short told Mugabe that the new British government was "without links to colonial interests" and had no "special responsibility to meet the cost of land purchases".

Mugabe later said that Labour was "inexperienced".

"The Conservatives were more mature," he claimed.