Hain facing new donations row

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According to The Guardian newspaper, the scale of the under-reporting is such that some political sources believe his political future could be at stake unless he can show it was down to the chaos within his campaign team and there was no deliberate attempt to conceal the payments.

While Mr Hain has declared £82,000 in donations, the newspaper said that the true total was likely to be "well in excess" of £100,000. It said that no donations had been declared after May 4 last year - six weeks before the end of the campaign.

In a statement, Mr Hain said: "As I said in December, as a result of administrative failings within my campaign there were donations to my deputy leadership bid which were not registered within the normal time, to the Electoral Commission.

"Since December, I have undertaken a full audit of all donations to the campaign and have agreed with the Electoral Commission to provide the details of these late declarations to them, by the middle of January.

"I reiterate that this is deeply regrettable and I sincerely apologise."

The disclosure is a further unwelcome blow for Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he seeks to stage a political fightback after the bruising setbacks of the closing months of 2007.

The Guardian said that the premier had still not been fully informed of the discrepancies in the reporting of Mr Hain's campaign donations.

The Labour Party is already facing a Scotland Yard investigation into more than £600,000 made in proxy donations by property developer David Abrahams in apparent breach of the law on party funding.

Mr Hain admitted last month that he had failed to declare all the donations to his campaign - including £5,000 given by Labour's new chief fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn.