PM 'must give up' Whelan donations

David Cameron is under pressure to give up £1.5 million in donations from businessman Dave Whelan amid allegations of racist comments by the Wigan Athletic chairman.

Labour backbencher Karl Turner has written to the Prime Minister urging him to condemn the remarks and hand the money to charity.

Mr Whelan became emboiled in the row as he tried to defend his decision to employ Malky Mackay as the club's manager, despite a Football Association investigation into claims he sent anti-semitic messages to a friend while in charge at Cardiff.

The 77-year-old former JJB Sport boss is said to have told the Guardian: "The Jews don't like losing money ... I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else".

He also reportedly argued there was "nothing bad" about referring to Chinese people as "Chinks".

Mr Whelan has apologised for causing offence, and suggested he had been misquoted.

But in a letter to Mr Cameron, Mr Turner said: "David Whelan is a significant donor to the Conservative Party, and has donated £1.5 million since 2007.

"His most recent donation of £100,000 was received by the Conservative Party on the August 2 2014.

"Given his status as a significant contributor to your re-election efforts you must now make it clear if you personally condone or condemn these comments.

"I hope that you agree with me that these anti-Semitic and racist comments have no place in modern British society, and as such I hope that you also agree with me that you must now give up any money that you have received from Mr Whelan and consider which charitable groups would be better recipients of it.

"Failure to act swiftly in this matter will show a lack of leadership. It will not be possible for you to simultaneously condemn offensive remarks while accepting large sums of money from those responsible for them."