Labour's Andy Burnham denies taking cash for access

Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham has denied taking cash for access after an undercover journalist was offered a face-to-face meeting with the MP in return for a cash gift.

An undercover journalist for The Sun posing as a wealthy foreign donor, gave £5,000 to Faiz ul Rasool, a businessman and Labour Party donor, who arranged for him to meet Mr Burnham.

The newspaper said the journalist, using the name 'Mr Arshad' was invited to a reception two days later, on Monday, at the Labour Party's London HQ where he was introduced to the Leigh MP.

At the reception, another donation of £3,000 was handed to a campaign aide by someone posing as Mr Arshad's British wife, the newspaper reported.

Mr Rasool is said to be one of Labour's major donors and a photograph of him recently appeared on Mr Burnham's campaign twitter account where he was described as a "campaign star".

A spokesman for Mr Burnham said that, while Mr Rasool had previously donated money to his campaign, he had no role in his team.

A source in the Burnham camp said the leadership campaign had no knowledge of the £5,000 reportedly handed over in cash in a Mayfair casino.

Mr Rasool has made significant donations to Labour in the past, and is chair of Muslim Friends of Labour and Labour Friends of Pakistan.