John Swinney: Resignation call

However, in an exclusive BBC Scotland interview on Tuesday, Mr McLeish promised he would pay another �27,000 if required to do so.

He stressed that while mistakes were made, he would not resign.

SNP leader John Swinney said he was "staggered" by the potential amount of money involved.

He accused Mr McLeish of breaking the bond of trust with the public and said his position was becoming untenable.

He said: "I'm staggered by the sums of money involved and I think the first minister must have been aware of all of these details for some time, and the fact that it has taken a fortnight for this to have been dragged out of him is a matter of enormous regret.

"The first minister should have taken up our offer to come to parliament a fortnight ago and make a full personal statement and the agony of the last fortnight and the damage done to the office of first minister may have been avoided."

'Bond of trust'

Mr Swinney accused the first minister of avoiding the issue.

"It has now come to a conclusion and the first minister has got to answer how he can remain in office when the bond of trust between him and the Scottish public is fundamentally weakened, and he now must resign," he said.

Scottish Tory Party leader David McLetchie said: "I note that the first minister says it was a muddle, I've been saying for the past year there is incompetence and I'm glad to have that confirmation out of his own mouth."

Mr McLeish must now face his political opponents face-to-face in a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.