Political Rebels

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government was in crisis on Wednesday on the eve of local elections and a key EU vote after four ministers in 24 hours indicated they would step down. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears came out publicly to say she was quitting so she could "return to the grassroots" and "help the Labour Party reconnect with the British people". Her bombshell came after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's aides briefed reporters on Tuesday she would step down in Brown's next cabinet reshuffle, expected as early as Friday. Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson and children's minister Beverley Hughes -- who unlike Blears and Smith ... Read Full Story

A cabinet minister pledged to repay thousands of pounds of property tax in the latest fall-out of an expenses row that Prime Minister Gordon Brown said must be met with "extreme" action. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said she would pay 13,332 pounds (about 20,000 dollars, 15,000 euros) in tax that leaked expenses claims suggested she should have already paid when she sold her London flat in August 2004. Her decision came after a fifth day of newspaper revelations about MPs' lavish claims on taxpayers' money prompted Brown to take decisive action. In a round of television interviews, the premier announced an independent review of ... Read Full Story

A British cabinet minister pledged to repay thousands of pounds of property tax in the latest fall-out of an expenses row that Prime Minister Gordon Brown said must be met with "extreme" action. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said she would pay 13,332 pounds (about 20,000 dollars, 15,000 euros) in tax that leaked expenses claims suggested she should have already paid when she sold her London flat in August 2004. Her decision came after a fifth day of newspaper revelations about MPs' lavish claims on taxpayers' money prompted Brown to take decisive action. In a round of television interviews, the premier announced an independent review ... Read Full Story

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced an independent inquiry into the Iraq war but is facing claims of a cover-up after saying it would take evidence in private. Six years after predecessor Tony Blair controversially backed the US-led invasion, Brown said the "unprecedented" inquiry would cover the eight years from the campaign's run-up to the pullout of British troops next month. But he said it would be held in private for "national security" reasons, infuriating many MPs and anti-war campaigners. Brown is currently bidding to reassert his authority over his ruling Labour Party after his leadership took a hit from an expenses scandal, historically ... Read Full Story

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg told the BBC earlier today that the panel had been set up to examine Liberal Democrat MPs’ expenses had “so far” not found any of the Lib Dem MPs guilty of similar things to those from the other parties. “If any Lib Dem MP is discovered to have done some of the things other parties’ MPs have done - not paying capital gains tax, flipping second homes, claiming for mortgages that did not exist - we would refer them to the independent Standards Commissioner,” “It should then be a matter for people in the constituency to ... Read Full Story