Brown in key MPs’ meeting June 7, 2009 GORDON Brown will be fighting for his political survival today in a make-or-break meeting with MPs. Rebel MPs have still not come up with the 100 signatures they promised in a letter of no confidence. They need the backing of 71 of Labour’s 350 lawmakers to trigger a leadership contest, which would take about three [...]
Brown in key MPs’ meeting June 7, 2009 GORDON Brown will be fighting for his political survival today in a make-or-break meeting with MPs. Rebel MPs have still not come up with the 100 signatures they promised in a letter of no confidence. They need the backing of 71 of Labour’s 350 lawmakers to trigger a leadership contest, which would take about three [...]
PURNELL: I QUIT NOW BROWN MUST GO June 4, 2009 GORDON BROWN suffered another devastating blow last night after his work and pensions secretary quit and told him to stand down to save the Labour Party. James Purnell, a rising star and a leading Blairite, became the third cabinet minister to leave Brown’s chaotic government this week and the first to openly call for Brown [...]
LABOUR IN MELTDOWN June 3, 2009 AS VOTERS go to the polls, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is fighting for his political life after cabinet minister Hazel Blears resigned yesterday – just 24 hours ahead of today’s European and local government elections. Communities secretary Hazel Blears is the fourth ministerial departure in 48 hours and the second at cabinet level, after it [...]
JUMPING OFF A SINKING SHIP June 2, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown’s plans for a cabinet reshuffle have been thrown into disarray with the resignation of five Labour MPs, including three ministers. Home secretary Jacqui Smith, Beverley Hughes, the families minister and cabinet office minister Tom Watson all quit ahead of Brown’s shake-up, which is expected to follow likely heavy defeats for Labour [...]
Labour faces disaster as voting looms May 31, 2009 THE LABOUR party’s European election hopes suffered another blow yesterday, as an opinion poll showed it lagging behind both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years. According to the ICM poll, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s party is set to suffer a significant defeat in the European elections on Thursday [...]
MPs rush to remedy row with cheques May 13, 2009 FORMER agriculture minister Elliot Morley was last night revealed to have claimed parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage that did not exist. Morley continued to claim for the mortgage interest on his constituency home for more than 18 months after the loan had already been paid off. This latest revelation is regarded as the [...]
MPs rush to remedy row with cheques May 13, 2009 FORMER agriculture minister Elliot Morley was last night revealed to have claimed parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage that did not exist. Morley continued to claim for the mortgage interest on his constituency home for more than 18 months after the loan had already been paid off. This latest revelation is regarded as the [...]
US mortgage agencies are nationalised September 8, 2008 The US government took control of twin mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yesterday as it unveiled a series of measures designed to rescue the beleaguered US housing market. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson said the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) would place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under “conservatorship” to prevent the collapse of [...]
Brown needs to improve or quit, says former Home Secretary Clarke September 5, 2008 Prime Minister Gordon Brown should stand down as party leader if he cannot improve his government’s performance in the coming months, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke said yesterday. Clarke said Labour was heading for “disaster” at the next election if it did not change course. In a rare outbreak of dissent within the party, Clarke [...]