Perth's leading Panama hat salesman has resigned after admitting business dealings with his one and only customer, former Western Australian Premier Brian Burke. "In this line of work, all my business dealings are supposed to be shady," he said. "But when Mr Burke brought Kevin Rudd into the shop to try on some hats, I knew I was fatally compromised."

But the salesman is adamant that Mr Rudd did not himself purchase a panama hat. "He wasn't interested in anything that might stop his face being in the media spotlight," he explained.

The scandal over Mr Burke's contacts has already led to the resignation of four members of the WA Labor government, as well as Mr Burke's wife and entire family.

The controversy has left inexperienced Premier Alan Carpenter with no choice but to seek advice on how to the resolve the crisis from Mr Burke. Police listening in to the Premier's telephone calls with Mr Burke say it was he who decided that any MPs dealing with him should be sacked.

Mr Burke's latest victim is philosophical about having to leave his job. "To be honest, it's not much of a loss to be getting out of the panama hat game. Brian's fashion choices haven't exactly been great for sales. My mafia clients have returned their hats: not even they want to be associated with Burke."

But he admits the scandal has affected him. "After all this contact with Brian Burke, my reputation is totally shattered. In fact the only person I can get a reference from is Kelvin Thompson."

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