Dobson faces data access inquiry

LABOUR WAS facing an embarrassing legal investigation last night into claims that party membership lists had given Frank Dobson an unfair advantage in the race to be mayor of London.

Elizabeth France, the Data Protection Registrar, suggested that MPs and MEPs who had supplied lists to Mr Dobson's campaign might have acted illegally and said she was ready to open an inquiry.

The move came as Geoff Martin, convener of the union London Unison and a Ken Livingstone supporter, revealed that he was making an official complaint. Last week Mr Dobson's team was found to have used confidential lists of names and addresses of 68,000 Labour Party members for a mailshot.

Both Labour's Millbank HQ and Mr Dobson's campaign claimed last night that the party's registration under the Date Protection Act covered MPs and MEPs.