Labour received £40k from expelled convicted criminal

Labour has said it is returning more than £40,000 donated by a convicted criminal whom the party had already expelled as a member.

- KATE DEVLIN

The donations came from businessman Abdul Sattar Shere-Mohammod, 55, known as Shere Sattar, who was convicted of actual bodily harm in 2022 and thrown out of Labour later that year.

The money includes £10,300 given to the central party last June, a figure that is just below the threshold to be disclosed to the elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission.

The revelations raise questions about Labour’s procedures for accepting political donations, an issue that hit the headlines following reports earlier this year that Elon Musk planned to give Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party $100m (£74m).

In its manifesto at the last election, Sir Keir Starmer’s party pledged to “protect democracy by strengthening the rules around donations to political parties”.