Johnson embroiled in donations row

The Health Secretary stressed his Labour deputy leadership campaign team had done "what the law asked us to do" and more to check a gift of some £3,000 from immigrant Waseem Siddiqui.

Mr Johnson said it was a "surprise" that Mr Siddiqui was now claiming to have given the cash on behalf of his brother - but denied that the revelation was a fresh "embarrassment" to the Labour Party.

"We registered everything in accordance with the laws to our best knowledge," Mr Johnson told Sky News. "We are absolutely clear now from talking to the Electoral Commission that everything we have done was what was required of us."

Speaking from his constituency in Hull, Mr Johnson insisted that reporting Mr Siddiqui's gift to the Register of Member's Interests was "not the best way to hide a donation". Mr Johnson said everything had been "above board" and there had been "absolutely no impropriety".

"We did what the law asked us to do. We checked that he is on the electoral roll, we checked that he is registered to vote in this country," he said.

"We also checked - although we are not required to - whether he was a member of the Labour Party, and he is a member of the Labour Party. We submitted his donation to the Parliamentary Register, it has been on there since May 9. We submitted it to the Electoral Commission."

"We noticed back end of last year it was not appearing on the Electoral Commission's website, along with three other contributions, so we met with the Electoral Commission. They advised us to resubmit them all again, which we did."

Mr Johnson insisted it would not have been possible for his campaign team to "chase down the details of every single individual" who contributed.

Mr Johnson said he was "very surprised" by claims that Mr Siddiqui's £3,334 gift had come from a third party. "I'm as surprised as anybody," he said. "But all I can say is that we have followed absolutely the procedures."