The Hinduja scandal is the closest the Labour party has to radioactive waste. Though officially buried five years ago, it remains lethal: the Indian billionaires had involved so many powerful people in their quest for British passports that the scandal threatened to engulf the whole government. In the event Peter Mandelson was — conveniently for New Labour — the only casualty of the affair. His downfall was so spectacular, and so gleefully received, that little attention was paid to the subtle, sometimes playful clues Sir Anthony Hammond left in his official report of March 2001, pointing those who cared to look towards a much deeper mystery.
The former Treasury solicitor turned Whitehall gumshoe disclosed without comment the astonishing influence which the Hindujas commanded at the highest reaches of government and how they lobbied for passports while discussing their contribution to the Millennium Dome. But Hammond’s findings suggested an intimacy between New Labour and the brothers that could not be explained by a single donation.
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