WHEN Tony Blair famously declared in the heady, optimistic days of 1997 that new Labour would have to be "whiter than white", there was always a danger that his words would come back to haunt him.

And so they have.

It was a bold declaration to underline the need for a fresh start from the sleaze which had tainted John Major's administration.

But with the secret loans row refusing to go away, Mr Blair now runs the real risk of the sleaze label also being attached to his Government, along with the spin tag it has already earned.

And that is a huge disappointment to us, just as it is to millions of ordinary people who placed their faith in Mr Blair's new beginning.

Whether rules were broken or not, it is the perception that matters. And how many times have we said that about the Government and its ministers?

Mandelson, Blunkett, and Jowell are just three names which spring immediately to mind.

The loans controversy is another prime example: four individuals, at least, give secret loans worth millions to the Labour Party and are then swiftly recommended for peerages by the Prime Minister. Under Labour's rules, the loans do not have to be declared because they are not donations. But how does it look? How does it smell?

Now that the rabbit is out of the hat we are promised tighter regulations.

Secret loans to political parties will be banned.

But the damage has been done: to the Government, the Prime Minister and to politics generally.

It can only add to the pressure on Tony Blair to step down sooner rather than later.