WITH Labour handing back a donation from Formula One racing chief Bernie Ecclestone, ministers will no doubt be hoping to draw a line under the row over its exemption of the sport from its planned ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship.

Yet, even if the party is regarded as having moved with commendable speed in following the advice of Sir Patrick Neill, the new public standards watchdog, and escapes any inference that it is open to influence on policy, the whiff of sleaze comes at a time when the pedestal upon which Labour was put last May seems now to be wobbly.

For it is not just this U-turn that has shown the party to be fallible and ordinary - in sharp contrast to the bold image and zest with which it came to office in the summer - for, indeed, many smudges now tarnish the gloss.

Compromise, delay and back-tracking have come to characterise New Labour as seen by its responses to issues such as fox-hunting, animal experimentation, lone parent benefits, extra cold weather payments for pensioners and age discrimination in employment.

It is true that the burdens of government, and even the amount of business that can be handled, demand concessions and priorities, but when one with such a large majority seems to have so soon to have replaced thrust with fudge, its promise begins to ring hollow.

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