LONDON, March 23: The chairman of outsourcing firm Capita Group resigned on Thursday, blaming publicity surrounding his decision to loan money to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s governing Labour Party. Rod Aldridge said the group’s reputation was being questioned because of his personal decision to lend Labour one million pounds.

“There have been suggestions that this loan has resulted in the group being awarded government contracts,” Mr Aldridge said in a statement on Thursday.

Capita, which manages payments for London’s traffic congestion charging scheme, has a string of government contracts.

Mr Aldridge was recently named as one of the dozen millionaires who lent Labour almost 14 million pounds last year to help finance its general election campaign.

The loans story has turned into a political scandal, damaging Blair’s reputation, because four of the 12 who lent money were later nominated to receive peerages that would allow them to sit in unelected upper chamber the House of Lords.—AFP