The political row over the Co-op Bank’s near collapse and the revelations about Paul Flowers has intensified, with Ed Miliband accusing David Cameron of “desperate” smears over Labour’s links to the lender’s scandal-hit former chairman.
The Labour leader claimed Mr Cameron reached a “new low” at Prime Minister’s Questions by using Mr Flowers’ troubles to “impugn” Labour’s integrity.
But Tory chairman Grant Shapps insisted Mr Miliband’s response was “ludicrous” and stepped up pressure on Labour over the damaging deal which saw the Co-op merge with Britannia.
Mr Shapps said there were “conflicting reports” about how much the Labour leadership knew about Mr Flowers’ past, which included him standing down as a Labour councillor after pornography was found on his computer.
Labour has said Mr Miliband did not know about the reason why Mr Flowers quit in 2011.
But Mr Shapps told BBC1’s Sunday Politics: “You are telling me that they didn’t know. I’m not sure that’s clear at all, I have heard conflicting reports on that.”
The 63-year-old Methodist minister Mr Flowers stepped down as Co-op Bank chairman in June.
In a strongly-worded piece in the Independent on Sunday, Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron “hit a new low by trying to use the gross errors and misconduct of one man, Paul Flowers, to impugn the integrity of the entire Labour movement”.