Leader backs under-fire Osborne

DAVID Cameron, the Conservative leader, yesterday insisted that George Osborne, his shadow chancellor, was telling the truth about conversations over donations with a Russian oligarch in Corfu.

It was the first time Mr Cameron had given such an emphatic defence of Mr Osborne, whose political career looked precarious after it emerged he and the Tories' chief fundraiser had discussed potential donations from Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminium magnate.

Mr Cameron told reporters in Glenrothes when asked if he would sack Mr Osborne: "If my mother had wheels, she'd be a bicycle. The point is, he is telling the truth; he has said very clearly what he has done and what he has said."

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP, has asked Parliament's sleaze watchdog to investigate Mr Osborne's failure to declare the free Corfu villa holiday he was given by the financier Nathaniel Rothschild, who facilitated the meeting with Mr Deripaska.