IT is rich for the Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke to accuse the media of 'manufacturing' stories about sleaze and spin.

It was not the media, but the Labour Party, which accepted donations from Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal.

It was not a member of the media, but a Labour Party apparatchik, who suggested September 11 was a good day to bury bad news.

And it was not just the media who questioned the Labour Party's judgement in accepting a donation from publisher Richard Desmond. Can we refer Mr Clarke to comments made by his Cabinet colleagues Tessa Jowell and Clare Short?

It was the Labour Party which came to office on the back of a promise to clean up government and to be transparent. Mr Clarke should perhaps look closer to home before accusing others of hypocrisy.

Nevertheless, it is right to open a debate on the future funding of our political parties.

It is plain that regulations forcing parties to declare substantial donations have not curbed the willingness to entertain support from almost all quarters. Impecuniousness appears to outweigh principles, as far as party fund managers are concerned.

As a country, we must face up to the fact that, as long as parties are funded privately, then they are susceptible to manipulation by vested interests and the inherent risks to democracy that entails.

Do we really want to follow the American line where election results are determined by a candidate's financial muscle rather than ability and integrity?

It is time for Britain to at least examine the system of party funding, existing in many countries, where parties are bankrolled by the state.

Curbing the spending of parties in such a way may herald a return to issues being determined by debate rather than expensive gimmickry.

It will remove from British politics the sleaze which is automatically associated with private donations.

Sadly, it demonstrates the credibility gap the Labour Party has to bridge that we suspect its sudden interest in state funding has been prompted, less by a genuine desire to strengthen our democracy, but more by a straightforward attempt to get itself out of a hole it has dug for itself