Leading Article: A Volvo that goes too far

MICHAEL MATES's position as a Minister of the Crown is no longer tenable, and he should now resign. But it is important to disentangle the murky tales of inscribed watches and borrowed Volvos of the past few days from the question of what has made Mr Mates unfit for high political office, and what wider lessons should be drawn from the affair.

It is now some weeks since the public became aware of Mr Mates's gift to Asil Nadir of a watch inscribed with the words 'Don't let the buggers get you down'. On the information available at the time, Mr Mates seemed more a fool than a knave. He had performed an impulsive, silly gesture, which seemed consistent with his outspoken character and a charitable view of Mr Nadir's position. Yet what he had done, foolish though it was, was not a hanging offence. That was the view of the Prime Minister, and that was also the view of this newspaper.

It has since emerged that, even after Mr Nadir skipped bail, Mr Mates was also party to a more questionable transaction, in which his wife accepted the loan of a car from a friend of Mr Mates, who also happened to work for a public- relations consultancy that numbered Mr Nadir among its clients. The details remain unclear: Mr Mates and his PR- man friend, Christopher Morgan, disagree over who first suggested lending the second-hand Volvo to the minister's estranged wife; the role that Mr Mates himself had in choosing the car also remains unexplained. But in accepting the loan, Mr Mates put himself in unmistakable breach of the rules governing how ministers should behave. Formal guidelines talk of a 'well-established and recognised rule that no minister . . . should accept gifts, hospitality or services from anyone which would (or might appear to) place him or her under an obligation' - and they indicate that this rule applies not just to ministers, but also to members of their families.

Had Mr Mates not already made a fool of himself over the watch, there would have been a case for saying that this was a minor breach, perhaps worth as little as a few hundred pounds. It was certainly modest by the intemperate standards of David Mellor, who accepted not one, but two, free holidays from two different questionable foreign sources while serving in Her Majesty's Government, and who also accepted the use of a flat and a car from a property developer. But Mr Mates is no longer in a position to demand benefit of the doubt, and that is why he must go.

There will be hopes in Downing Street and Smith Square that Mr Mates's departure will calm the current controversy over the funding of political parties; hopes that with the Nadir connection pinned on him alone, business as usual may continue. John Major will make a fatal mistake if he succumbs to this apparently comforting view. Once Mr Mates has gone, and the munificent Nadir contributions to the Tory party have been returned by Central Office, the issue will merely become clearer. Only full disclosure of where the Conservative Party gets its money will answer the critics; and only full disclosure will restore the moral authority so sadly tarnished by Mr Mates, Mr Nadir, the watch and the second-hand Volvo.