Downing Street has refused to say whether Tony Blair believes that the morality of party donors is an important issue.

A spokesman on Monday would not be drawn on whether Blair personally disapproved of the business interests of Richard Desmond, the top-shelf publisher who made a donation to Labour just before ministers approved his deal to buy the Express newspapers group.

Downing Street's intervention came after Northern Ireland secretary, Dr John Reid, insisted that Millbank need not apply any moral or political tests on donors.

"If you are asking if we are going to sit in moral judgment and have a political judgment on those who contribute to the Labour Party, the answer is no," said Dr Reid.

Whilst Number 10 appeared to back Dr Reid's stance, a spokesman conceded that raising money was Tony Blair's least favourite political activity.

"The prime minister has said many times over that one of the parts of the job that all politicians like least is raising money for their political parties," he said.

But Labour MPs and women's groups have expressed outrage that the prime minister has accepted cash from Desmond - whose empire publishes titles including "Asian Babes" and "Reader's Wives".

Labour MP Alice Mahon told the BBC Today Programme: "What Richard Desmond does exploits women. As somebody who has been in favour of promoting the position of women all my life, then obviously somebody like Richard Desmond is the last person I would want to support and finance the Labour Party."

Despite a welter of criticim Downing Street dismissed any suggestions that Desmond's donation played any part in the government's decision to back his takeover of Express newspapers.

Desmond row

Desmond's £100,000 donation came just weeks before the then trade secretary, Stephen Byers, announced that Desmond's bid for Express Newspapers had been passed by competition watchdogs.

Desmond's Northern and Shell group issued a statement on Sunday which detailed the gift. "The company offered to donate free advertising to the Labour Party during the run-up to the 2001 election campaign," said the statement.

"This was declined by Labour, which indicated that it would prefer a financial contribution - which it would then reinvest in advertising within the Express Newspaper Group."

Transparency

Labour has denied any wrongdoing - saying it was committed to "openness and transparency in party funding".

"The Labour Party has voluntarily declared all donations of more than £5000 since 1995, long before any other political party. This donation will appear in our annual report in the usual way," said a spokesman.

Byers said that he was simply acting in accordance with the government's competitions and merger policy as set out by him in 2000.

He said he was bound to accept the advice of the director general of fair trading, who said the deal did not have to go before the Competition Commission.

"The director general, after my announcement, recommended to me that this should not be referred to the Competition Commission. I fell in line with that advice," he said.

Answers?

But Tory chairman David Davis is demanding answers from the government.

He suggested that Labour was trying to get round the rules on declaring donations.

"The timing of this huge donation, and its non-declaration, is extraordinarily hypocritical," he said.

"We need to know whether this donation influenced decisions by government, this time over newspaper ownership. The prime minister has a lot of explaining to do."

The Northern Ireland secretary denied that the government had attempted to hide the donation.

"It's a pathetic example again of a Tory party which will not and cannot discuss the important policies and issues affecting people's lives and prefer to concentrate on personality and smears," Dr Reid told the BBC.