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divdiv class=story-body readability=61 span class=story-date#13; span class=date22 November 2013/span#13; span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time03:28 ET/span#13; #13; /span#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introductionThe former chairman of the Co-op Bank has been arrested in Merseyside in connection with a drugs supply investigation, the BBC understands./p#13; pPaul Flowers, 63, was filmed allegedly handing over £300 for cocaine and discussing buying other illegal drugs./p#13; pFollowing the revelations he was suspended from both the Methodist Church, where he was a minister in Bradford, and the Labour Party./p#13; pHe left his position as deputy chairman of the Co-op Group in June./p#13; pIn a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: Officers have... arrested a 63-year-old man in the Merseyside area in connection with an ongoing drugs supply investigation. /p#13; pHe has been taken to a police station in West Yorkshire where detectives will continue their enquiries./p#13; span class=cross-headPayments stopped/span#13; pThe BBC has learned that Mr Flowers resigned from the Co-op Group over concerns about his expenses./p#13; pOur business editor Robert Peston says he stepped down after being confronted with a dossier of his lavish claims, compiled by the then chairman Len Wardle./p#13; #13; pSeparately, he was forced out of its banking arm because of doubts about his competency for the job./p#13; pThe bank is seeking to recover money paid to its former chairman who has been told to hand back £31,000./p#13; pWhen Paul Flowers relinquished his responsibilities in June, it was agreed, as per his contractual obligations, that his fees for the rest of his period of office would be paid, it said in a statement./p#13; pFollowing recent revelations, the board stopped all payments with immediate effect and no further payments will be made./p#13; pThe bank is also looking at emails and other evidence as part of an internal fact-finding review./p#13; span class=cross-head'Unjustified smears'/span#13; pa href=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2508464/Crystal-meth-shame-Co-op-bank-chief-Paul-Flowers.htmlSince the Mail on Sunday published a video/a of Mr Flowers allegedly paying for and discussing drugs, Labour have sought to distance themselves from the Methodist minister as a political row has developed over how he was allowed to reach the heights of the bank./p#13; pUntil 2011 he was a Labour councillor in Bradford and subsequently served for the party on what it says was an informal advisory group./p#13; pJohn Pennington, an opposition councillor who served alongside Mr Flowers, described him as very believable, a very plausible chap./p#13; pWe were never informed why he left the council, he told BBC Radio 5 live./p#13; div class=story-feature narrow#13; a class=hidden href=#story_continues_1Continue reading the main story/a h2 class=quote“spanStart Quote/span/h2#13; blockquote readability=2p class=first-childInevitably, it's regrettable when the allegations made against one minister then tarnishes the extremely good and honourable work undertaken by all of our ministers”/p/blockquote#13; span class=endquoteEnd Quote/span#13; span class=quote-creditRev Gareth Powell/span#13; span class=quote-credit-titleAssistant general secretary, Methodist Church/span#13; #13; /div p id=story_continues_1On Thursday, Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of unjustified smears over Labour's links with Mr Flowers./p#13; pThe Labour leader said the prime minister was scoring cheap political points and ignoring serious regulatory issues./p#13; pThe prime minister has suggested the Labour Party knew of concerns about Mr Flowers but did not act on them, but Mr Miliband said he was confident Labour had acted with complete integrity./p#13; pMr Cameron has ordered an inquiry into how Mr Flowers was considered to be a suitable chairman for the Co-op Bank./p#13; pBut the government is also facing questions about why, in 2012, the Treasury supported the bank's attempt to almost treble in size when it was actually falling apart, says our business editor./p#13; span class=cross-headChurch questions/span#13; pFormer Conservative leadership contender David Davis a href=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/797e086c-52d9-11e3-8586-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz2lMNqbSyztold the Financial Times newspaper/a problems should have spotted earlier by the Treasury and regulators./p#13; pThere are really serious questions to answer about what they were all doing, Mr Davis told the FT./p#13; pMeanwhile, the Methodist Church has said it is providing pastoral care for Mr Flowers, who is indefinitely suspended as a minister./p#13; #13; pAssistant general secretary Rev Gareth Powell said: Inevitably, it's regrettable when the allegations made against one minister then tarnishes the extremely good and honourable work undertaken by all of our ministers, he told the BBC./p#13; pCertainly the actions that are now under public scrutiny inevitably raise a question about the role of the church./p#13; pIt emerged this week Mr Flowers resigned from running drugs charity Lifeline in 2004 after allegedly lodging false expenses claims. /p#13; pAccording to Thursday's Daily Mail, the figure involved was £150,000. /p#13; pThe Charity Commission said it had received a complaint at the time but had no evidence Mr Flowers acted in bad faith or fraudulently./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center