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Gordon Brown: Euro Crisis Is Even Worse Than Lehman Nick Jardine Sep. 16, 2011, 4:34 PM Brown says things are worse now than they were in 2008. Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown says that the current financial woes are worse than they were in 2008, reports the Telegraph. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, Brown said he believes that the world's economy could fall into a 1930-like slump if matters continue in the same vein. He told the audience: "The European banks as a whole are grossly under-capitalised: they have liabilities far in excess of American...

Diplomacy: Well, it's out — the invitation list to the biggest U.K. royal wedding in three decades. A Mustique bartender merited an invite, but it seems the Obamas did not. It's pretty obvious the Brits are sending a message. Sure, the royal wedding is a ceremonial affair, and news that the U.S. president and first lady weren't invited to the nuptials of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 30 won't rupture normal diplomatic relations. Still, it's eyebrow-arching, given that U.S. presidents have always been invited up till now. And the slowly leaking list of people who did get invited...

Tony Blair uses his new book to expose Gordon Brown as a manipulative figure who lost a winnable election by abandoning the principles of New Labour. The former prime minister’s memoir discloses that a “maddening” Mr Brown effectively blackmailed him while he was in No 10. He suspects the then chancellor of orchestrating the investigation into the cash-for-honours scandal. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair at a Labour Party rally The pressure on Mr Blair to step aside became so great that he admits he may have become reliant on alcohol as he faced coup attempts from Mr Brown’s supporters. He...

Gordon Brown gave Barack Obama $16,500 (£10,000) worth of gifts during a US visit, in return for a selection of DVDs. The value of Mr Brown's gifts, a pen and holder made from the wood of an anti-slavery ship, along with two biographies of Winston Churchill, was disclosed by the US State Department on Tuesday. Mr Obama, by comparison, gave him a boxset of 25 classic US films such as Citizen Kane and ET.

One of Barack Obama’s aides jokingly suggested that his wife Michelle should be photographed kissing Gordon Brown in the White House to disprove claims that the President had killed off the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US. The remark was made by Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama’s chief of staff, when the President was accused of snubbing no less than five requests by Mr Brown for a face-to-face meeting during a visit to the US last year. The then PM was reduced to grabbing a 15-minute chat with Mr Obama in a kitchen at the United Nations New York HQ...

Britain has sunk into a pit of debt which is five times deeper than previously feared, with the country now owing the equivalent of £200,000 per household. Instead of the £1 trillion reading normally presented as the nation's debt, the UK is in the red by closer to £5 trillion... a broader set of ONS figures taking in Government liabilities show unfunded public service pension obligations could add another £1.2 trillion and liabilities in unfunded state pension schemes a further £1.35 trillion. The sum is almost four times the size of the UK's total gross domestic product in 2009...a more...

The British election campaign didn’t do much to catch the attention of Americans (at least not until after the vote), but one little item feels pertinent – although it attracted remarkably little attention even across the pond. In Sherwood, Nottinghamshire, a lady called Phyllis Delik received a postcard from Gordon Brown’s Labour Party. On one side, there was a photograph of a woman suffering from breast cancer saying “It’s the sort of thing you think will never happen to you.” On the reverse, there was a question: “Are the Tories a change you can afford?” – followed by a warning...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – After three rocky years as prime minister, election defeat has forced Gordon Brown to consider his future and speculation is swirling it might include a stint at the helm of the IMF. After being battered by financial meltdown and backbench revolts Brown may not be looking for a new job quickly, much less one that includes tackling Europe's debt crisis. But little over 24 hours since the Scot left office the chattering classes in London and Washington are already awash with rumors he may be interested in leading the International Monetary Fund. Like his predecessor Tony Blair...

SNIPPET: "And thus ends the saga of "Shiekh Umar Rabie, Emir of al Qaeda in the UK". I haven't commented publicly on this for some time because I was involved in the case. I testified at Ishaq Kanmi's terrorism trial last year and was asked not to comment publicly, but now that he's plead guilty that commitment has passed. I don't think I'm giving away too much when I say that long before UK authorities had "The Blackburn Resistance " under surveillance, they were on our radar screens. Why? Because a year before the "Emir of al Qaeda in the...

LONDON – Conservative leader David Cameron became Britain's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years Tuesday after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government. Cameron said he aims to form a full coalition government with the third-place Liberal Democrats after his Conservative Party won the most seats but did not get a majority in Britain national election last week. The 43-year-old leader said it would be "hard and difficult work" to govern as a coalition but added that Britain had serious economic issues to tackle. Cameron visited Buckingham Palace and was asked to form a government...

The pound burst through the $1.50 mark as Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister, ushering in a coalition Government with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Despite fears that a hung parliament would be catastrophic for the UK economy, sterling leapt by a cent as it emerged that negotiations between Labour and the LibDems broke down. The new Conservative-Liberal Government is expected to pitch itself as a unity government with the purpose of overhauling Britain’s economy after the biggest economic crisis and deepest recession since the 1930s. It will pledge to hold an emergency Budget within two months, which is expected...

David Cameron is the new Prime Minister The Conservative leader has left Buckingham Palace amidst uncertainty about the shape of his coalition with the Lib Dems.

Gordon Brown has announced he is resigning as UK prime minister. Mr Brown is on his way to officially tender his resignation to the Queen, and recommend that Conservative leader David Cameron should succeed him. Speaking alongside his wife Sarah outside No 10 Downing Street, he said the job had been "a privilege" and wished his successor well. His decision comes as the Tories and Liberal Democrats are poised to agree a deal to form a government. Labour's attempts to negotiate a deal of their own with the Lib Dems, after last week's inconclusive election result, ended in failure on...

Sky Sources: Gordon Brown To Resign Tonight Huw Borland, Sky News Online Prime Minister Gordon Brown will resign tonight, according to Sky News political correspondent Joey Jones. Jones said: "He just wants to get this over with. It's presumably quite likely now that we will see David Cameron walking up Downing Street in the not-distant future." Mr Brown wants to move on to charity work and literature, Sky sources said. The revelations follow senior Liberal Democrat Vince Cable telling Sky a deal on forming a coalition government between his party and the Conservatives is "very, very close to being done".

Gordon Brown declared he would quit yesterday - even as he launched a jaw-dropping bid to keep Labour in office in a 'coalition of the losers'. Meanwhile the double-dealing Lib Dems were accused of holding Britain to ransom. In an effort to defy the verdict of the voters, the Prime Minister risked a constitutional crisis by unveiling a cynical plan to woo Nick Clegg and cling to power. He said he wanted to assemble a coalition government with the backing of the Lib Dems and then stand down in favour of another unelected Labour prime minister in the autumn. Mr...

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he will resign by September

Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader - as his party opens formal talks with the Lib Dems about forming a government. Mr Brown, prime minister since 2007, said he hoped a successor as Labour leader would be in place by September.

There is no real difference between the 'liberal democrats' of the UK (who, like every other party which tagged 'democrat' to their name ~100 years ago was doing so to differentiate themselves from the Totalitarian Left, like 'hey, it's OK, we're not like Lenin, even though we believe a lot of the same things'. Remember that context when you see 'democrat' in a party name), and the leftist Labor party, and they will together form a leftist government. They are acting now as if they might help the Conservatives into power: they will NOT. They benefit from acting as if...

With about 90 percent of votes counted in the U.K. general election, the Conservative Party has emerged as the biggest party, with over 300 seats projected, but short of an overall majority. The ruling Labour Party has suffered its biggest defeat in decades, and the Liberals have failed to benefit from “Cleggmania.” However, the early indications are that Gordon Brown is still determined to cling to power in a hung parliament, and will try to form a coalition government with the Liberals. This would be disastrous for Britain, and would be an insult to parliamentary democracy. If Brown stays on...

The forms gave a return address for inquiries as 'Great Charles Street, Birmingam.' The error came a week after the council sent out 60,000 postal ballot cards with a return deadline of May 29 2009 - last year's European Election date. second set of polling cards later arrived on doormats with the correct deadline for this year's local election of April 29, 2010 - but missing the 'h' in Birmingham. A list of instructions also stated: "Make it is not left where someone else can pick it up" - leaving out the word "sure". The grammatical gaffes were condemned...

The 2010 General Elections in the United Kingdom are underway, and the first results will trickle in in the next few hours. Post your observations here, and let's all root for the Tories!

British voters go to the polls on Thursday in the tightest political race in the UK in a generation. Several opinion polls have indicated the strong possibility of a hung parliament, with a Conservative minority government led by David Cameron as prime minister. In order to guarantee passage of legislation under this scenario, the Conservatives would be forced to negotiate with other political parties, significantly weakening the government’s power. Other polls, concentrating on key marginal seats, have pointed to a small Conservative majority, which would give Cameron, if elected, a far stronger mandate to lead on his own. Here are...

Obama, Brown, and the ‘Third Way’The Left loses its way by abandoning the “third way.”  Left parties are in trouble in the Anglosphere. Here in America, Democrats are doing worse in the polls today than at any time in the last 50 years. In Britain, the Labour party is on the brink of finishing third, behind both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, in the election next Thursday. All of which raises the question: What happened to the “third way� center-left movement that once seemed to sweep all before it? Only a dozen years ago, in 1998, President Clinton enjoyed...

With a general election set for May 6, the two main parties have, as Peter Goodspeed notes in Canada’s National Post, busied themselves “adopting U.S. policies, personnel and practices.” The British press, too, is full of talk about “presidential-style” TV debates and “first lady politics”. The Americanizing of the British election becomes even more evident if one listens to Conservative party leader David Cameron, who routinely references president Barack Obama – as an apparent inspiration – and who has even, on a few occasions, cited John F. Kennedy as “a great American president.” But despite the US-UK “special relationship,” the...

Gillian Duffy, the pensioner labelled "bigoted" by Gordon Brown, snubbed him when his aides asked her to pose for a photograph shaking hands with him, it has emerged. Mr Brown spent 40 minutes apologising to Mrs Duffy inside her home in Rochdale on Wednesday after his disastrous gaffe, later emerging to declare himself a "penitent sinner". But Mrs Duffy's nephew has disclosed that Mr Brown's spin doctors had hoped to persuade the 65-year-old widower to come out of her house for a staged photocall with the Prime Minister in the hope of repairing the damage he had done with his...

Gillian Duffy had only popped out to buy a loaf of bread. But by the time she got home, following a chance encounter with the Prime Minister, the 65-year-old widow had become the woman who could seal the outcome of the general election. The Prime Minister had been visiting a community re-offender project in Rochdale when Mrs Duffy called out to him and asked why he was not addressing the debt crisis. As part of the new “real voters” strategy, she was ushered by an aide to speak directly to the Prime Minister. Mrs Duffy politely asked about a range...

Uh oh! Here is video of British Prime Minister being caught on an open microphone inside his limousine calling a woman he had just been talking to a "bigoted woman." The video shows Brown talking with the woman outside the care and telling her, "And it's very nice to see you. Take care." He then gets in his car and says: "That was a disaster - they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It's just ridiculous." He then also called her a "bigoted woman" with a tone of disgust in his voice.

Gordon Brown has apologised after he was caught on microphone in an unguarded moment calling a grandmother "bigoted The Prime Minister was confronted by 66-year-old Gillian Duffy while on the campaign trail in Rochdale. He spent nearly five minutes answering her questions and told her: "It's been very good to meet you." He smiled at the woman and then got into a waiting car. However, a microphone picked up his words to an aide as he drove away. Mr Brown was caught saying: "That was a disaster. His aide asked: "What did she say?" Mr Brown replied: "Well, just...You should...

Here's UK MP Nigel Farage giving Barry Hussein Soetoro friend and cohort Prime Minister Gordon Brown an hear full from the European people. Farage tells a smiling Brown that he is disregarding the European people and doing whatever he wishes (sound familiar?) see 3:38min video)

Through the power of Facebook, up to a half a million drivers in the UK are expected to boycott gas next month shortly before the nation heads to the polls for a general election in which Prime Minister (PM) Gordon Brown is fighting stiff competition for the win. Many Brits are upset with recent gas tax increases that were supported and passed by PM Brown. Protesters hope that the mass demonstration will be the nail in the coffin for his chances of winning. Gas prices have soared in Britain, reaching U.S. $1.87 a liter (about $7.06 a gallon) last week....

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who faces a tough re-election battle in next month’s parliamentary vote, hopes his devotion to clean energy will put the wind at his back. Brown has reaped the benefits of his long courtship of wind turbine manufacturers in recent weeks as one after the other the large international companies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments that will create thousands of jobs and make the UK a leader in wind energy. The government’s budget last month included 60 million pounds for port improvements that spurred two of the biggest turbine makers, General...

In one of his first campaign encounters with ordinary people, Gordon Brown came off worst yesterday when he was questioned by young first-time voters. The Prime Minister lost his temper and stumbled over his answers as he came under withering attack about immigration and his expenses. After weeks of being transported from one photo opportunity with Labour party members to another, faced with real voters on Radio 1's Newsbeat Mr Brown was repeatedly interrupted and urged to admit his mistakes. He was forced on to the back foot over his claim for thousands of pounds to pay his brother to...

ITV1 — 14.Apr.10 — Season 2010 Ep. 1 — With the election called for 6th May, tonight sees the first ever live television debate between the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party leaders.

Gordon Brown will announce on Tuesday morning that the general election will, as expected, be held on 6 May, BBC political editor Nick Robinson says. The prime minister will go to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament. On returning from the Palace he will formally confirm the date and make a speech in Downing Street in which he will dub the election "the big choice". The economy, taxation and public services will be key battlegrounds. The campaign will also feature, for the first time, live television debates between the three main party leaders. It will be the...

London (United Kingdom) The first meeting of the UN-instituted ’climate fund group’, kicked off in London with Britain offering to sign a new Kyoto Treaty as developing countries’ demand ; urging those nations to play their parts by enshrining their commitments to tackling global warming in international law.    The move came as the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his visiting Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi, held prolonged talks, on Wednesday, with billionaire financier George Soros, United States president Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers ; as well as other renown economists and finance ministers ; aimed at finding ways to raise...

Gordon Brown has warned political parties against ''scaremongering'' about immigration in the general election campaign. In a major speech on immigration in east London, the PM acknowledged it was ''legitimate'' for voters to express anxiety about the numbers of incomers and their impact on their public services and lifestyles, and said politicians must address these concerns. But he said that net inward migration to the UK was in fact coming down and that no mainstream party was advocating shutting the country's doors to newcomers altogether. He urged the major parties to present ''a united front'' against those who would ''bring...

Gordon Brown has been ordered to release information before the general election about his controversial decision to sell Britain's gold reserves. The decision to sell the gold – taken by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor – is regarded as one of the Treasury's worst financial mistakes and has cost taxpayers almost £7 billion. Mr Brown and the Treasury have repeatedly refused to disclose information about the gold sale amid allegations that warnings were ignored. Following a series of freedom of information requests from The Daily Telegraph over the past four years, the Information Commissioner has ordered the Treasury to...

If he rages naked at his aides it’s because he can do nothing about anything that matters In the old days, I used to wake up to the morning paper, neatly folded on a silver salver and presented by my valet along with the kedgeree and the brace of grilled quail. Now I wake up to an inbox of Internet stories forwarded by readers that cumulatively feel like the front page from some bizarro kingdom cooked up for an unpersuasive dystopian satire. For example, a headline from the Washington Examiner: “Transsexual Cabaret Performer Vomits on Susan Sarandon.” An accident? Or...

GORDON BROWN is on course to remain prime minister after the general election as a new Sunday Times poll reveals that Labour is now just two points behind the Tories. The YouGov survey places David Cameron’s Conservatives on 37%, as against 35% for Labour — the closest gap between the parties in more than two years. It means Labour is heading for a total of 317 seats, nine short of an overall majority, with the Tories languishing on a total of just 263 MPs. Such an outcome would mean Brown could stay in office and deny Cameron the keys to...

Conservatives in Britain will hold their first Tea Party protest in Brighton on Saturday, with British member of the European parliament (and frequent Fox News guest) Daniel Hannan giving the keynote. The party web site is here. “Labour has raised more than a trillion pounds in additional taxation since 1997. Yet, unbelievably, Gordon Brown has still managed to run up a deficit of 12.6% of GDP (Greece’s is 12%). A far lower level of taxation brought Americans out in spontaneous protest last year,” Hannan wrote for the London Telegraph.

Gordon Brown criticised by anti-bullying chief The row over Gordon Brown’s treatment of his staff has deepened after an anti-bullying charity said several Downing Street employees had called its helpline seeking advice and counselling. Published: 11:00PM GMT 21 Feb 2010 Christine Pratt, founder of the National Bullying Hotline, claimed the charity had received "three or four" calls in recent months from staff in the Prime Minister’s office. She said she had personally spoken to at least one of the callers, who complained of a "bullying culture" at Downing Street and of the "stress" it caused. Mrs Pratt added that she...

Gordon Brown today mounted an astonishing attack on the Tories as he likened them to the dynasty of the Hapsburgs and claimed they could not be trusted with the economy. The Prime Minister renewed the issues of class as he went on the offensive amid growing speculation he is about to call an early election in the face of a slew of dismal economic news. Mr Brown built on his criticism of the Tories as elitist by comparing them to the Royal House of Hapsburg, which ruled a mighty European empire which went into decline before finally collapsing in the...

Gordon Brown has launched a UN climate change fundraising group alongside the Ethiopian PM, and has criticised climate change sceptics. Photograph: AFPPrime minister Gordon Brown today accused climate change sceptics of going "against the grain" of scientific evidence, as he launched a new group to raise billions of pounds for the fight against global warming.Mr Brown will co-chair the United Nations High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing with Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi.The group aims to raise $30bn (£19bn) over the next three years - rising to $100bn annually by 2020 – to help poor countries limit their...

For generations Dover has stood as an indomitable symbol of Britain’s freedom and independence. The town, with its white cliffs, port and sprawling castle stood at the very edge of the nation’s frontier with the Continent. But now part of that proud history is up for sale and the leading bidder is revealed as the former age-old enemy – France. The Port of Dover is being recommended by Government advisers for sale to the French authorities. It is one of a string of public assets which have been earmarked for privatisation as the Government battles with a record £830billion national...

FORMER Cabinet ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt today launched a last-ditch bid to oust Gordon Brown. They have written to all Labour MPs calling for the leadership issue to be sorted out "once and for all". A source close to the ex cabinet ministers — both of whom were allies of Tony Blair — said: "We can't go on like this." Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2796950/Hoon-and-Hewitt-bid-to-oust-PM.html#ixzz0bs7T1TPH

WASHINGTON -- After a day spent frantically darting around Copenhagen trying to locate world leaders, getting snubbed by China's premier and crashing a meeting where he had initially been kept out, President Obama heralded a last-minute, largely toothless UN global-warming summit deal that drew fast fire from all sides as a sham. Almost no one was happy with the outcome of the two-week confab and even the president, who was slammed by liberals and Republicans alike, along with other world leaders, admitted that the pact doesn't legally commit any of the nations involved -- the point of the summit in...

Gordon Brown was snubbed by badly injured Afghan veterans when they closed curtains round their beds during a hospital visit and refused to speak to him. More than half the soldiers being treated at the Selly Oak hospital ward in Birmingham either asked for the curtains to be closed or deliberately avoided the prime minister, according to several of those present. The soldiers, who have sustained some of the worst injuries seen in Afghanistan, described his visit as “opportunistic” and a “waste of time”. Furious about equipment shortages and poor compensation for their injuries, one soldier said: “It is almost...

'Dangerous, deceitful' attempts to derail Copenhagen summit condemned Gordon Brown tonight led a chorus of condemnation against "flat-earth" climate change sceptics who have tried to derail the Copenhagen summit by casting doubt on the evidence for global warming. Sceptics in the UK and the US have moved to capitalise on a series of hacked emails from climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia, claiming they show attempts to hide information that does not support the case for human activity causing rising temperatures. On the eve of the Copenhagen summit, Saudi Arabia and Republican members of the US Congress...

LONDON (AFP) – World leaders heading to UN climate talks next week must not be distracted by "flat-earth" sceptics who deny humans are to blame for global warming, Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Saturday. "With only days to go before Copenhagen, we mustn't be distracted by the behind-the-times, anti-science, flat-earth climate sceptics," Brown told The Guardian newspaper ahead of the landmark UN summit in the Danish capital. "We know the science. We know what we must do. We must now act and close the five-billion-tonne gap. That will seal the deal." Government advisor Nicholas Stern estimated that 10 billion tonnes...

The Environment Agency will argue today that carbon rationing is the fairest and most effective way for the UK to meet its legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Agency’s chairman, Lord Smith, will propose at the organisation's annual conference in London that every citizen be provided with a "carbon account" and unique number that they submit when buying carbon-intensive items such as petrol, electricity or airline tickets. Individuals would then periodically receive statements that show the carbon impact of each purchase and how much of their annual ration has been used up. If they exceeded this ration,...