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Mrs Janes asked why it was possible to save the banks but it was not possible to provide the materiel that could save soldiers' lives. Mr Brown sent her a hand-written note to apologise for her loss but the letter began ''Dear Mrs James'' and appeared to contain other spelling mistakes and a visible correction to her son Jamie's name. After the letter appeared in the press, he made a 13-minute phone call to apologise about the letter of condolence and, on Tuesday, apologised again during a Prime Ministerial press conference. Mrs Janes said he had appeared "humbled" but...

Nov. 7, 2009, 10:29 a.m. EST Brown urges global tax to fund bank bailouts By William L. Watts, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday urged finance officials from the world's 20 largest industrialized and developing nations to weigh a global tax on financial transactions that would be used to fund bank bailouts. "I believe we should discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society," Brown told finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations gathered at St. Andrews in Scotland....

The buck (or the pound, in this case) stops at the desk of perpetually embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. According to numerous reports in newspapers in the U.K. and worldwide, a clandestine oil-for-prisoners deal with Libya facilitated the recent “compassionate release” of convicted terrorist Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi from the Scottish prison where he was serving a life sentence for having bombed a commercial airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people.Despite weeks of Brown’s denials and pretended offense at the very suggestion that either his government or the government of Scotland would ever make such a behind-the-scenes...

THIS must be one of the greatest blogs of all time. Hint ... one of the old lesbians looks like ... Michael Moore.

TWELVE_years ago, Britain was crying out for change from a divided, exhausted Government. Today we are there again. In 1997, "New" Labour, shorn of its destructive hard-Left doctrines and with an energetic and charismatic leader, seemed the answer. Tony Blair said things could only get better, and few doubted him. But did they get better? Well, you could point to investment in schools and shorter hospital waiting lists and say yes, some things did - a little. But the real story of the Labour years is one of under-achievement, rank failure and a vast expansion of wasteful government interference in...

Here is video of a BBC interviewer asking British Prime Minister Gordon Brown if he takes pain killers to "get through," meaning to get through the day. The question seemed to stun Brown, who it appeared took offense at that kind of question. He was asked the question in connection with rumors that his eyesight is also deteriorating. But Brown explained he has had surgery for detached retinas in both eyes over the years, and said his eyesight is not deteriorating. . . . (VIDEO)

Gordon Brown lurched from being hailed as a global statesman to intense embarrassment tonight, after it emerged US President Barack Obama had turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today. The prime minister, eager to portray himself as a leading player on the international stage in America this week, was also forced to play down suggestions from inside his own party that he might step down early, either due to ill health or deteriorating eyesight. There have...

Gordon Brown will not hold one-to-one talks with President Obama during his four-day trip to the United States, but British officials deny that he has been snubbed. The Prime Minister was flying to New York today to chair a round-table discussion at a UN climate summit and accept a "world statesman of the year" award. He will also speak at the UN General Assembly before heading to Pittsburgh for the G20 summit. Mr Brown last addressed the General Assembly two years ago, soon after assuming the role of Prime Minister. On that visit he was taken to Camp David for...

New fathers are being given the right to take six months' paternity leave, despite concerns over its impact on firms in the recession. Gordon Brown will tell union bosses that the plan will be implemented after Business Secretary Lord Mandelson put it on ice because of the economic crisis. Around 400,000 men a year will qualify for the right to dramatically extended leave from April 2011.  At the moment, they can only take two weeks off, an offer taken up by 60 per cent of eligible men. By contrast, new mothers can take a year off. As well as...

Ideas that were once fringe are taking centre stage as the Tories plan radical action to tackle Britain’s dire public finances and transform government In Westminster and town halls across the country, revolution is brewing. It threatens riots, possibly on the streets, certainly in cyberspace. Riots of protest, perhaps, and definitely a riot of information. For a glimpse of the tumult coming your way, call up the website of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM). In a few mouse clicks you can find details of every supplier paid more than £500 of taxpayers’ money by the council. From...

President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland – but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was ‘disingenuous’. British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen. ‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that...

Wasn't Barack Obama supposed to be the guy who was loved all across the world. During the campaign didn't they do public opinion polls that showed how the Obamessiah was the choice over McCain in all of our allied countries as well as our enemies? Those days are gone. Remember how he he upset the entire country of Great Britain by dissing their Prime Minister; no state dinner, no press conference and to top it all off President Obama gave the Prime Minister a crappy take-home gift, old DVDs that were in a format that couldn't be played in a...

Labour MPs, including cabinet ministers, will take a quick look at the headlines this morning and think: right, that’s it. Several simultaneous stories smash a hole in the Prime Minister’s defence of his handling of the Lockerbie affair. The Sunday Telegraph reveals that “the British, Scottish and Libyan governments connived to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds”. Libya paid for medical advice that allowed the Scots to free the bomber. The Sunday Times claims that Brown “personally vetoed an attempt to force Colonel Muammar Gadaffi to compensate IRA bomb victims because it might have jeopardised British oil deals...

Is Gordon Brown still fit for office? A blog posted today by the journalist John Ward on his website notbornyesterday.org suggests that the PM may be in worse health than the public realise. He claims there are signs the PM is taking powerful drugs to control both depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Ward bases his hypothesis on a tip-off from a senior civil servant that Brown has recently been given a "long list of forbidden foods". The civil servant, who works regularly with the PM, told Ward that Brown had been banned from eating and drinking several specific things...

GORDON Brown is heading for a crushing defeat at the next election with voters believing he is failing our troops in Afghanistan, a vital Sun poll reveals today. Tory David Cameron will sweep to power with a 96-seat Commons majority, the survey predicts. Seven in ten voters think Mr Brown's government is doing a "very bad" or "fairly bad" job of supporting Our Boys in the Afghan conflict. In a further blow to the PM, twice as many voters believe Britain's armed forces would be better off in Mr Cameron's hands than Mr Brown's. Our poll also reveals 51 percent...

EDINBURGH, Scotland — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing accuations of "double-dealing" after confidential documents were released on Tuesday revealing that Libya was told Brown wanted the Lockerbie bomber to die a free man. "We did not want him to die in prison, no, we weren't seeking his death in prison," Miliband said. Al-Megrahi, 57, was the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Scotland freed him on compassionate grounds Aug. 20 after doctors said he had terminal cancer. U.S. Justice Department spokesman Richard Kolko said Tuesday...

Gordon Brown was not very popular before this Lockerbie disaster, but after today his popularity will be lower than George Bush at a Code Pink convention. After the mass murderer al-Megrahi was released to die in Libya, a firestorm erupted on both sides of the Atlantic. Gordon Brown swore that there was no pressure from his government placed on Scotland to release the terrorist to make despite the evidence that the homecoming was part of a quid pro quo in an Oil Deal. Today Brown was caught in a "Chris Dodd" moment as released documents show that Scotland was against...

Gordon Brown is facing a Labour revolt over plans to cut the benefits of the poorest families by up to £15 a week, The Times can reveal. Proposals to be implemented next April, a month before a general election, could mean some people losing a fifth of their income. The move, which has provoked anger among Labour backbenchers, was compared last night with the fiasco over the abolition of the 10p rate of income tax. At the moment 300,000 people on low incomes are allowed to keep up to £780 a year of their housing allowance if they find accommodation...

If Joe Scarborough is right, this could be a game-changing blow to Barack Obama . . . On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough left no doubt that he believes the Obama administration acquiesed to the release by the British government of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the convicted Lockberbie murderer and terrorist. View video here.

From the London Times: Gordon Brown was dragged into the centre of the row over the early release of the Lockerbie bomber last night after it emerged that a key decision that could have paved the way for the terrorist to serve his sentence in Libya was approved by Downing Street. A source close to Jack Straw told The Times that the move to include Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement in 2007 was a government decision and was not made at the sole discretion of the Justice Secretary. "It wasn't just Jack who decided this. It...

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal. Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards. The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely critizised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal. Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards. The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release. The correspondence makes it plain that the key...

It's one thing to argue that we shouldn't torture terrorists. It's rather another thing to let one go to a hero's welcome. In case anyone missed it, Kenny MacAskill, Justice Minister for Scotland, ordered the "compassionate release" of Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi. Al-Megrahi was one of the persons responsible for the bombing Pan Am 103, which came down on Lockerbie. Two hundred and seventy people died, including eleven on the ground. Al-Megrahi was apparently suffering from prostate cancer, and was said to have had less than three months to live. That three months is apparently key under Scottish "prison guidance,"...

Netanyahu in UK: Settlement construction not a land grabPrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu emerged from his meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday afternoon in London saying that Israel and the US were trying to come up with "a bridging formula" that would allow the launching of the peace process, while at the same time enabling normal life in the settlements. Netanyahu said that one could not expect Israel to allow a population of 250,000 residents of the territories to live there without new schools, kindergartens, or homes for their families. "This is different from grabbing land," Netanyahu said during...

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown is under increasing pressure to cast his opinion over the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdulbaset al-Megrahi. The Premier has so far remained silent and is facing growing anger both at home and in the US. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the PM's silence on Megrahi's release was "absurd and damaging". He said: "Although the decision to release Megrahi was a Scottish one for which Gordon Brown was not personally responsible, the fallout puts the UK at the centre of an international storm.

Prince Andrew is set to pull out of Libya visit for the anniversary of military coup, as claims grow louder that Westminster 'cut a business deal' with Tripoli over the release from a life prison sentence for the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. If Gordon Brown is hoping that the furore over Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's release will die down now that the only man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 is back in Libya, he will be disappointed. According to reports in the Arabic press, Megrahi will be at the centre of next month's celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary...

Gordon Brown faced fresh questions tonight after it emerged that he discussed with Colonel Gaddafi detailed conditions for the Lockerbie bomber's return nearly six weeks ago, while senior Labour figures warned of an economic backlash from angry Americans "costing our country dear". Downing Street released the text of a cordial letter sent to the Libyan leader on the day that Abdulbaset al-Megrahi was released, asking that the event be kept low key because a "high-profile" ceremony would distress his victims and their families.

Already badly shaken by American outrage and opprobrium over the release of the convicted Lockerbie airliner bomber, the British government faced fresh embarrassment on Saturday when the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, met with the newly liberated prisoner in Tripoli and thanked Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, “my friend,” for interceding with the Scottish government to let the man go. In an appearance characteristic for its capricious mischief-making, Colonel Qaddafi heaped praise not only on Mr. Brown but on Queen Elizabeth and her second son, Andrew, duke of York, for helping in the release of the bomber, Abdel Basset...

The international furore over the release of the Lockerbie bomber deepened today after he was seen embracing Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. In scenes that will provoke outrage among victims' families and the U.S. government, TV footage showed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi meeting Gaddafi in Tripoli. It came as Gordon Brown faced fresh pressure after shocking claims by Libya that the release of the bomber was linked explicity to trade deals benefiting Britain. Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said Megrahi's case was discussed at every meeting between the then Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Libyan leader. But the Foreign Office...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - After more than five years, the Pentagon revealed why it is holding a Saudi nicknamed "the Professor" at Guantanamo Bay, saying he once lived with a Sept. 11 conspirator and received a stipend from Osama bin Laden. Shaker Aamer's lawyer denies the allegations, made after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week requested the release of the Saudi, who has been an unofficial leader among the detainees, and four other former residents of Britain. The Bush administration, which has been urging other nations to accept Guantanamo prisoners amid international pressure to close the military jail,...

First...we must get the racism out of the way.... Then there would that little trouble with right-wing protesters, and how to deal with them. Then, of course, there is the FINNALL SOLUUUUTIONNN, the reinvention of health care as we know it....

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND -- On my last visit to the UK three months ago, Members of Parliament were embroiled in a scandal involving outrageous expense claims for such things as moat cleaning, a baby crib and second homes that were sometimes occupied by friends and relatives, or not at all. For the first time since 1695, a speaker of the House of Commons was forced to resign and Prime Minister Gordon Brown (who also had questionable expenses) saw several of his ministers quit. Brown and Tory leader David Cameron, whose Conservatives were also caught up in the scandal, though to...

Britain’s economy contracted in the second quarter, marking a full year of decline sharper than any since the 1930s barring that of second world war and its aftermath. Economic output fell by 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to June, after a 2.4 per cent decline in the first quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics’ “flash” first estimate of gross domestic product on Friday. Although the economy is contracting at a much slower pace than earlier this year, the decline was far sharper than the average 0.3 per cent forecast by economists in a Thomson Reuters...

Soldiers 'dying because of cuts': Brown starved forces of cash, says ex-defence chief MATTHEW HICKLEY 10th July 2009 Attack: Lord Guthrie said the lives of British troops in Afghanistan were endangered because of cash shortages A former head of the armed forces yesterday accused Gordon Brown of endangering the lives of British troops in Afghanistan by starving the military of funds. In a devastating personal attack, Lord Guthrie said that under Mr Brown the Treasury had spent 'the minimum they could get away with' on defence. The resulting shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan has led to more British soldiers being...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned in an interview on the eve of today's G8 summit that the world is now facing a “second wakeup call” – a crisis of growth and employment as severe as the credit crisis of the past year.

We feel your pain, my British friends. We're not there yet, but we're right behind you. Sadly, your feckless leader appears to be more of an assclown than ours...for a brief second or two. Loony Obugger Clown is learning, and he's catching on fast!

Britain's Foreign Office is summoning Iran's ambassador over the comments made Friday by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a Foreign Office spokesman said. The ambassador is expected to meet with the Foreign Office's political director sometime Friday afternoon, said the spokesman, who would not be named in line with policy. Khamenei addressed a crowd at Tehran University in a sermon during Friday prayers. He passionately defended the outcome of last week's presidential election, but he also criticized the United States, Britain and Israel for manipulating and undermining the process. "Their enmity toward the Islamic establishment -- they are showing...

As Europe's leaders prepare to strip Britain of ultimate control over finance, insurance, and securities, defenders of the City have begun to talk darkly of the nuclear option – known in EU lore as the "Luxembourg Compromise". France's Charles de Gaulle was the last EU leader to opt for a showdown in the "empty chair crisis" in 1965, withdrawing his officials from Brussels after the commission pushed its luck too far Britain cannot veto the massive shift in regulatory power to Brussels now under way. Internal market laws are decided by qualified majority voting (QMV), and London has few friends...

BNP wins European Parliament seat The British National Party has won its first seat in the European Parliament after gaining more than 120,000 votes in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Labour could be on course to dip below 20% of the vote in what Harriet Harman has called a "very dismal" night. After the first three English regions to declare, Labour is third on 15.9% of the vote behind the Tories on 26.8% and UKIP [UK Independence Party] on 18.1%. There are still nine regions to declare their results. But if repeated across the UK it will pile pressure on...

Britain has as its Prime Minister a master of political illusion. He may not be much of an orator, but there is no one better at dressing up old money as new. If the G20 nations wanted to fake progress, to spin a $1.1 trillion figure while committing no new money at all, then Gordon Brown is their man. “This is the day that the world came together to fight the global recession, not with words but with a plan,” said our Dear Leader. Well, let’s have a closer look at this supposed plan…

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul arrive at 10 Downing Street in London, to meet Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Tuesday May 12, 2009. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, greets, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, at 10 Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (R) and Iraqi parliament speaker Ayad al-Samarai hold a news conference in Baghdad May 10, 2009. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talks during a news conference in Washington, DC. Pelosi has arrived in Baghdad...

Hazel Blears, James Purnell, John Hutton and Caroline Flint all claimed that they were working alone when they handed in their resignations to Number 10. But The Sunday Telegraph can disclose that they were part of a group of Blairites that met secretly for months and tried to co-ordinate last week’s resignations. Their intention was to force Mr Brown to stand down in favour of Alan Johnson, the then Health Secretary. Mr Brown faced fresh embarrassment last night after a leaked email showed that Lord Mandelson said the Prime Minister was “self conscious”, “insecure” and “angry”. The Prime Minister faces...

Tony Blair believes Gordon Brown's political future is doomed because of 'the darkness in his heart' and his 'lies' - and feels Mr Brown has no one to blame but himself. The former Prime Minister's devastating verdict on his successor is a blow to Mr Brown's hopes of surviving further moves to topple him, expected this week. Publicly, Mr Blair has kept out of the row. However, The Mail on Sunday can disclose that privately he shares the view held by Labour rebels that Mr Brown will lead the Party to a disastrous defeat at the next Election. ..................................................

Prime Minister Gordon Brown renamed the famed Omaha beach "Obama beach" in a slip-up while giving his D-Day commemoration speech in France on Saturday. Brown, who is fighting for his political survival at home, was meant to be enjoying a few hours' respite in Normandy with US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prince Charles. "And so next to Obama beach we join President Obama in paying particular tribute to the spectacular bravery of American soliders who gave their lives on Omaha beach," Brown said, almost stumbling again when he said Omaha the second time.

‘Obama Beach’: British Prime Minister Makes Major Slip at D-Day Ceremony "So next to Obama Beach we join President Obama..."

As Andrew Stuttaford has mentioned, it seems likely that Gordon Brown's resignation as British prime minister is imminent. Another cabinet minister resigned yesterday (the third in three days) urging Brown to stand aside. Rumors are sweeping Westminster that David Miliband, the foreign secretary, will quit today. If Mr. Brown is forced out he will be the first post-war British PM (since Neville Chamberlain) never to have fought an election as party leader. The governing Labour Party is not ideologically riven (as was the case with the Conservatives in 1990 when Margaret Thatcher was ousted by her party) but is acting...

In a move that left the Prime Minister fighting for his political future, rebels claimed that as many as 50 Labour MPs were prepared to put their names to an email demanding that he step down. Details of what party insiders described as an attempted “cyber coup” emerged after his authority was dealt a potentially critical blow by the resignation of Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary. Her departure threatened to precipitate a sweeping Cabinet reshuffle being planned by Mr Brown. Alistair Darling was last night said to be resisting a move to the Home Office, opening a dangerous rift between...

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, dealt the most serious blow to the Prime Minister’s authority. It emerged that she will step down from the Cabinet when Mr Brown reshuffles his team after what Labour fears will be its worst performance at the polls for a generation. She had been under pressure for weeks over expenses claims made by her husband on her behalf, including for two pornographic films. However, the public disclosure of her departure before tomorrow’s elections threw Mr Brown’s reshuffle off course. Sources close to Downing Street suggested that Miss Smith’s decision only became public after it was...

Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in France, even if France extends an invitation, Buckingham Palace said. The queen was not on the initial invitation list and palace officials say even if France issues a belated invitation to next week's ceremony in Normandy, no member of the royal family will be able to attend, The Daily Mail reported Thursday. The government of French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week described the event as "very much a Franco-American occasion," which will be attended by U.S. President Barack Obama. The French said the commemoration would be...

Within hours of Michael Martin's announcement that he intended to step down as Speaker of the House of Commons, the Queen was seeking the counsel of Baroness Thatcher on the issue. "Isn't it extraordinary about the Speaker?" Her Majesty told the former prime minister when they met at a garden party at the The Goring Hotel, near Buckingham Palace, on Tuesday evening. Showing her customary grasp of history, she added: "This is the first time it has happened since 1695." Lady Thatcher, in a pink ensemble, responded: "Quite extraordinary, but I think it was the right thing to do. The...