William Hague has launched a blistering attack on the government, calling it "rotten" and "stained by infighting".

In a speech at the Carlton Club the Tory party leader called on Tony Blair to request that the Standards and Privileges Committee reinvestigates the home loan given to Peter Mandelson by Geoffrey Robinson. Hague will demanded a declaration from the prime minister on claims made by Geoffrey Robinson that he made party donations into a blind trust which have been contradicted by Baroness Jay.

Hague said: "The devastating revelations from Geoffrey Robinson confirm what the British people have long started to suspect: this Labour government is a rotten government, and the rot starts at the top."

He delivered a personal attack on the prime minister saying: "There is only one person responsible for the fact that Geoffrey Robinson ever held high office in our country and that Peter Mandelson still does - and that person is Tony Blair."

He also accused the government of sleaze, saying the latest outburst from the former paymaster general leaves the government tainted. "Tony Blair promised that New Labour would be 'purer than pure'. Instead, he leads a government now permanently stained by infighting, deceit, spin and cronyism of which Geoffrey Robinson was once an active participant and Peter Mandelson has become the living embodiment."