Free Republic

I am forced to apologize to the reading public. With so many other concerns to write about, I tried to restrain myself from writing on the Meleanie Hain story but could do so no longer. With her lawsuit pending before the courts, I now am experiencing an outrage so great that only a dismissal of the case by the judge can quell it. I am appalled at people who create unusual or controversial situations and then try to profit from them. Hain’s case is typical of this process. What damages did she incur? If you are wrongly accused of a...

From The Sunday TimesJanuary 20, 2008 Peter Hain ‘sails close to wind’ with more donations Jonathan Oliver and Marie Woolf PETER HAIN has been accused of “sailing close to the wind” over a string of campaign donations each for £1,000 - just 1p below the threshold at which they would have had to be declared. The embattled work and pensions secretary - who is also the Welsh secretary - received the cheques from wealthy businessmen who were asked at a dinner in Cardiff to support Hain’s bid for the deputy leadership of the Labour party. The Cabinet minister is already...

Tensions between Britain and Russia over the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent, burst into the open yesterday when a Cabinet minister condemned the "murky murders" clouding Vladimir Putin's regime.Peter Hain's hint at possible Kremlin involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death from radiation poisoning four days ago came as John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the police were now treating the death as "suspicious". Until now police have referred to it as an unexplained death although they previously said they suspected deliberate poisoning. A formal request has been submitted to Moscow for any information that might help the police....

Tensions between Britain and Russia burst into the open today when a leading Cabinet minister voiced criticism of President Putin's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.Peter Hain, the outspoken Northern Ireland Secretary, indicated that relations with Moscow had hit a low as he exhorted the Russian leader to return to democratic processes. Outspoken: Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary His comments come as the Government has been treading carefully with Russia amid claims that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. The Foreign Office asked Moscow on Friday to hand over any material which might...

'When ya gettin' rid of him?' Tony Blair has become an embarrassment to Labour's natural allies across the Atlantic - the Democrats Mark Seddon Friday August 20, 2004 The Guardian Out on the stump in Brooklyn with Democrat Congressional hopeful Frank Barbero came a chance to talk to the footsoldiers in an election that all agree is the most important in decades. America is polarised between red and blue - or, as some Democrats whisper, between progressive America and a revived Confederacy. With George, the Vietnam vet turned transit worker, and Jeff Gold, the eternally optimistic full-time organiser, we leafleted...

'Ministers saw categoric WMD evidence' Press Association Sunday February 1, 2004 3:08 PM The Government has seen "categoric" evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a Cabinet minister has insisted. Leader of the House of Commons Peter Hain said he and other ministers, including Tony Blair, had seen intelligence showing the ousted dictator had chemical and biological weapons. He also said weapons inspectors had uncovered evidence of WMD programmes, secret laboratories and "chemical and biological weapons ventures". The Government is facing mounting calls for an investigation of the intelligence that led Britain to war. The demands have escalated...