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The Labour party is gearing up for an early general election as a new Sunday Times poll reveals a narrowing of the Conservative lead. Party chiefs have ordered staff to be ready to fight an election any time from the new year amid growing Labour optimism that a Conservative victory can be averted.

Prince Charles was at odds with ministers today over plans to abolish history and geography lessons in schools. The Prince of Wales is said to be 'passionate' about protecting traditional lessons in British history and English literature in the classroom. Bernice McCabe, a leading headteacher and one of the Prince's closest advisers, has criticised education reforms which she says will leave schools as 'globalised theme

Someone is attacked by a complete stranger every 30 seconds in Binge Britain, figures revealed last night. When Labour came to power, only a third of violent crimes were carried out by an attacker the victim did not know. That has now jumped to half as random violence - fuelled by alcohol and round the clock opening - has become commonplace. There were 1,057,000 violent attacks by strangers last year - the equivalent of 2,895 a day or 120 every hour. Opposition MPs said it was the latest proof the Government's relaxation of licensing laws had failed. Some 21 per...

British film icon Sir Michael Caine has abandoned his support of the Labour party and announced he will vote Conservative at the next general election. The actor, 76, a former Labour supporter, condemned the “terrible state” that has been allowed to develop in Britain and said he planned to change his allegiance at the next election. For his latest film, Harry Brown, about violence on Britain’s streets, Sir Michael spent time with a gang from a tough inner London estate, who were hired as extras.

So now the cat is well and truly out of the bag. For years, as the number of immigrants to Britain shot up apparently uncontrollably, the question was how exactly this had happened. Was it through a fit of absent-mindedness or gross incompetence? Or was it not inadvertent at all, but deliberate? The latter explanation seemed just too outrageous. After all, a deliberate policy of mass immigration would have amounted to nothing less than an attempt to change the very make-up of this country without telling the electorate. There could not have been a more grave abuse of the entire...

Labour threw open Britain's borders to mass immigration to help socially engineer a "truly multicultural" country, a former Government adviser has revealed. The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett. He said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration" but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for...

Huge increases in immigration over the past decade were a deliberate attempt to engineer a more multicultural Britain, a former Government adviser said yesterday. Andrew Neather, a speechwriter who worked in Downing Street for Tony Blair and in the Home Office for Jack Straw and David Blunkett, said Labour's relaxation of controls was a plan to 'open up the UK to mass migration'. As well as bringing in hundreds of thousands to plug labour market gaps, there was also a 'driving political purpose' behind immigration policy, he claimed.

With Labour trailing the Conservatives in the polls and the Government facing accusation of having run out of steam, the Prime Minister urged his party to “stand and fight and win.” He also insisted he will not bow to calls for him to quit, describing himself as “the guy who doesn’t take no for an answer.” In his speech to the Labour conference in Brighton, Mr Brown accepted that Labour facing an uphill struggle at the election, but insisted that the party still has a chance of winning and taking a fourth term.

Catholics venerating relics of St Thérèse are 'slobbering zealots', says Labour councillorCouncillor Tim Cheetham, a Labour councillor in Barnsley, has been watching Catholics venerate the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux on television. “With all those slobbering zealots kissing that glass case, I hope it has some mystical power to prevent swine flu,� he wrote on Twitter this morning.That’s the authentic voice of 21st-century Labour. As Louise Bagshawe, novelist and Tory prospective candidate, immediately tweeted back: “Nice to describe faithful Catholics venerating a relic as slobbering zealots. Would you use such bigoted language about Muslims?�Cheetham’s pathetic reply: “As the church...

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...

The number of jobless households has risen at its fastest rate since Labour came to power with almost five million people now living in homes where no one works. New figures reveal a massive 4.8million people of working age now live in a home where no one holds down a job. The data for April to June this year shows an increase of 500,000 on a year ago before the recession took a crippling grip on Britain. The percentage of households where no adults work is now 16.9 per cent, up 1.1 per cent on 2008, according to the data...

AS THE dole queues lengthen, the full catastrophe of socialist rule becomes ever more apparent. Labour came to power 12 years ago promising a new dawn for our country. Instead they have plunged Britain into a darkening nightmare of economic collapse, mass unemployment, social division and unprecedented debts.

Dozens of girls as young as 12 or 13 are regularly having abortions, Government figures show. More than 450 youngsters below the age of 14 ended unwanted pregnancies between 2005 and 2008 - including 23 girls aged just 12, the Department of Health statistics reveal. Over the same period, 52 teenagers terminated four or more pregnancies before they reached their 18th birthday, helping the number of repeat abortions hit record levels. Across all age groups, 64,715 repeat abortions were carried out last year. This is the biggest figure on record and includes 46 women who had terminated at least eight...

European elections 2009: Labour loses 'uncrackable bastion' of WalesLabour has lost its last "uncrackable bastion" after being forced into second place in Wales for the first time since 1918, David Cameron has claimed. By Simon Johnson Published: 6:29PM BST 08 Jun 2009 The Tory leader travelled to Cardiff to celebrate the results after his party won the largest share of the Welsh popular vote in the European election. The disastrous result cost Labour an MEP and leaves it, the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the UK Independence Party with one Welsh seat each in the European parliament. Labour blamed its dire...

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June 9, 2009 The Obama family visit Westminster — and hear bell toll for MPs One of the family's souvenirs from the Palace of Westminster was a brochure bearing the grinning face of Michael Martin IMAGE :1 of 3 Jack Malvern and Tim Reid in Washington Until yesterday Malia and Sasha Obama may have been under the impression that politics is largely about cascades of balloons and jubilant crowds cheering on their nation’s leader. Then their mother brought them to Westminster. Michelle Obama gave her children a swift tour of British democratic institutions yesterday as they were shuttled across London...

A thorough drubbing of European leaders was the order of the day in elections across the continent, as voters spooked by the economic collapse registered their dissatisfaction in European Parliament and local polls that saw a sharp swing to the right. In the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown's Labour Party was emblematic of the whiplash -- pre-election polls projected it could finish third, and early results confirmed that grim diagnosis. In one early-reporting district, conservatives outpolled Labour three to one. The anti-immigration British National Party even picked up its first seat -- a blow to mainstream parties who boasted that the...

Support For UK's Ruling Labour Slides Below 20 Percent By REUTERS June 7, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Support for Britain's ruling Labour Party plunged to its lowest level in a century in European elections on Sunday, prompting fresh calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step down. Adding to Labour's woes, the far-right British National Party won its first seat in the European Parliament. The BNP gained the seat in the northern English region of Yorkshire and Humber at the expense of Brown's Labour Party, which has been hurt by a scandal over politicians' expenses and questions over Brown's leadership...

Sending shock waves through the mainstream political parties, the British National Party won a seat in the European Parliament for the first time in its history after receiving 120,139 votes in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The far right party's Andrew Brons took the last of the six seats up for grabs. Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, said that the presence of his party in Brussels would "transform British politics". He added that Britain had become a "bankrupt slum" under Labour. "The party is going to go on and grow very rapidly," he said. "We're going to be...

The British National Party sent shockwaves through mainstream British politics last night by winning their first seat in the European Parliament. Also, in a terrible night for Labour, the Conservatives became the highest polling party in Wales for the first time since 1918. With six regional results in across Britain, Labour looked set .........................................

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...

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...

HEALTH Secretary Alan Johnson is being lined up to act as emergency Prime Minister amid growing concerns among Labour MPs about Gordon Brown’s state of mind. The 58-year-old could take over as an interim measure if Mr Brown quits for the sake of his own health after an expected meltdown at next month’s local and European polls. A former postman with a common touch, he is seen as the candidate the Tories fear the most. Senior Labour sources said last night he would be the “magic wand” solution to avert a landslide defeat at the next General Election. An increasing...

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. ..................................................

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...

Labour MPs Calling For Brown To Go An email is circulating among Labour MPs encouraging Gordon Brown to step down as Prime Minister. Sky News has obtained a copy of the email which says: Dear Gordon, Over the last 12 years in government, and before, you have made an enormous contribution to this country and to the Labour Party, and this is widely acknowledged. However we are writing now because we believe that in the current political situation, you can best serve the Labour Party and the country by stepping down as party leader and prime minister. And so allowing...

[snip] Final paragraph: All must agree that the die is cast and a hard judgment made. Otherwise progressive politics will be dragged down at a general election in May 2010 that could lead to a much bigger defeat than Labour suffered in 1979. That might bring a chance for other parties to take it forward, as the Liberal Democrats are trying to do in this election. But they are not placed to enter government. Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose.

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...

325 MPs to be swept away at next election Andrew MacKay AT least half of the House of Commons’ 646 MPs will be swept away at the general election, as voters take revenge on the political classes for the expenses scandal. The departure of 325 members of parliament as a result of forced resignations, retirement and defeat at the polls would represent the biggest clear-out of parliament since 1945. As many as 30 will be forced to resign directly because of the expenses scandal, while whips expect more than 200 to quit because they are unable to cope with continued...

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...

Parliament suffered its darkest day yesterday as MPs and peers were suspended for alleged misconduct and the Commons faced an exodus of shamed and demoralised Members. MPs caught up in the expenses scandal admitted that they could be dropped by their local parties. Others were said by colleagues to be ready to walk away. Some who have been unaffected declared that the attractions of life as an MP had disappeared. It was the grimmest time that most could remember, with many still fearful about future disclosures and none able to raise enthusiasm for immediate concerns such as the European and...

excerpt: [photo] a Christian minister in London because they didn’t like his gospel television show. “If you go back to the studio,” they threatened, “we’ll break your legs.” The Reverend Noble Samuel said, “(The first man) started slapping my face and punching my neck. He was trying to smash my head on the steering wheel. Then he grabbed my......

One Law for All, the group that campaigns against the adoption of Islamic law or sharia in the UK, is planning a mass demonstration in the centre of London tomorrow, Saturday. 'We know we have a huge fight ahead and can only win if we do this together. We must mobilise a mass anti-racist movement that defends people's rights and lives and gives them precedence over culture and religion,' says organiser Maryam Namazie. The protest is timed to coincide with International Women's Day. Maryam says: 'This is your chance to voice your opposition to sharia law and all religious-based tribunals...

Note: The following text is a quote: May 8, 2009 UK bans cross-shaped medal as offensive to Muslims and Hindus When in Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to Muslim sensibilities. In non-Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to Muslim sensibilities. Got it? It is a pity that the prevailing multiculturalist fog is such that the Hindus joined this initiative. They may ultimately find their allies in this struggle turning on them. Cultural Abdication Alert from Absurd Britannia: "Queen's medal of honour scrapped... because it's too Christian for Muslims and Hindus," from the Daily Mail, May 8 (thanks...

Aaqil Ahmed, the innovative and interesting programmer responsible for Channel 4's recent Christianity: A History series, has been appointed the first Muslim head of religion at the BBC, as we report today. The Church of England could have been a little warmer in its welcome. The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch, said: 'The Church of England takes a close interest in the way Christianity, and other faiths, are portrayed by the BBC across all its programming. We are also interested in its specifically religious output, in light of this country's Judeo-Christian heritage. It is the quality and...

GORDON Brown was under pressure last night to call an immediate general election in the face of public fury over the Westminster expenses scandal. Angry voters across the country are demanding a mass clearout of MPs. At the same time, Scotland Yard has announced a team of leading police officers and prosecution lawyers will meet next week to decide what action to take against those who have abused the public’s trust. A poll of voters yesterday found two-thirds want an election called as soon as poss­ible. The same number want MPs who have been named and shamed to be forced...

Members of the BNP should be banned from being nurses, according to a motion passed at Unison’s Health Care Service Group Conference today. Delegates voted unanimously in favour of the motion, submitted by the National Nursing Sector, which calls for a law to prevent BNP members becoming nurses. It also calls for support from the NMC, which states that nurses should not discriminate against patients on the basis of race, but does not ban BNP membership outright. Proposing the motion, Mick McKeown, nursing sector committee member, said that the racist views of the BNP were incompatible with the public service...

FURIOUS David Cameron tonight called for the dissolution of Parliament claiming that the political system in Britain is 'paralysed'. The Conservative leader said that the public 'wanted to pass judgement' on politicians in the wake of the expenses scandal and demanded a snap general election. As Commons Speaker Michael Martin refused to resign in chaotic scenes in the House, Mr Cameron said he wanted immediate action from Tory activists throughout the country to force the dissolution of Parliament. He also urged the general public, including Labour and LibDem supporters, to join in and start their own petitions or write to...

Labour faces the possibility of being all but wiped out in the South in next month’s council elections, putting a swath of its parliamentary seats in jeopardy at the general election. Gordon Brown will launch the party’s local and European election campaign today in Derbyshire, one of Labour’s last four counties, all of which could fall on June 4. Although the four in jeopardy are in the Midlands or the North the Prime Minister will be equally worried that Labour councillors could disappear from a string of counties in the South. Labour has seen its local government base fall alarmingly...

It's hard to believe it's been 30 years since Margaret Thatcher became Britain's prime minister. She is now in declining health and no longer speaks in public, but if this week's anniversary of Mrs. Thatcher's election proves anything, it's that mention of her name can still start an argument. Some honor her as an unwavering champion of common people and simple principles. Others denounce her as an unbending, heartless ideologue. But virtually all agree that no American president has had a more reliable foreign ally. A generation later, facing tremendous international dangers, President Barack Obama could use such a partner....

It was meant to be fightback day. But before long it was beginning to feel like groundhog day. After the Government’s umpteenth bad Bank Holiday weekend Gordon Brown was ready once more to try to focus his Government and the country on key issues such as the economy and swine flu rather than his party’s internal problems. He chaired a meeting of the Cabinet after a private chat with Hazel Blears during which they cleared the air over her outspoken criticism of the Government’s “lamentable” communications. She was believed to have apologised over her “YouTube if you want to” remark...

Labour is heading for an election defeat as heavy as that suffered by John Major because Gordon Brown has lost control of the parliamentary party, two senior Cabinet ministers have privately warned. The Prime Minister was forced to surrender in his battle to reform MPs’ expenses yesterday after backbenchers threatened to defy his authority for the second time in two days. The retreat was announced to avert another humiliating loss in the Commons, only 24 hours after the Government was defeated over the right of Gurkhas to live in Britain. After another day of whips’ desperate bargaining with Labour MPs...

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is fighting for her political future following the disclosure that she paid for the cost of pornographic films with her taxpayer-funded allowance. Miss Smith apologised for submitting the £10 bill for the two adult films, which were watched by her husband, Richard Timney, while she was away in London. She promised to repay the money.

Imagine that you had fallen into a coma the night Tony Blair was elected, and now woke up during the last days of New Labour – what differences would you notice around you? The most striking would be the change in women's fashion. Back in 1997 the country was coming out of recession and the downbeat grunge look, and young ladies were starting to wear short skirts and plunging necklines. Twelve years later and you'll notice the women are dressed more conservatively - far, far more conservatively. Take a tour of any of inner London borough and see how many...

The repellent spectacle of Muslims demonstrating in Luton against the British soldiers returning from Iraq does more than turn our stomach. It tells us in graphic form that this country has not only utterly failed to combat a threat to itself from within but - astoundingly - turns not against those who threaten it but against those who seek to defend it. When the returning troops of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment paraded through Luton they had to run the gauntlet of Muslim protesters waving placards saying: ‘Anglian soldiers: Butchers of Basra,’ and ‘Anglian soldiers: cowards, killers, extremists.’...

It is inevitable, when Gordon Brown speaks to a joint session of Congress, that his address will be compared with the occasion in July 2003 when Tony Blair did the same. In both cases the context of the speech is a sense of threat: in Blair's case it was global terrorism; in Brown's it is global financial contagion. The Prime Minister will also face comparison with his host. He will speak little more than a week after the US President addressed an assembly of both Houses. Mr Obama did what we know he can do, almost without effort. He spoke...

DNA samples taken from 1.1million children are being held on an ever expanding government database. The figures, revealed yesterday, show that 1.09million DNA profiles of people aged under 18 were held on the database with 337,000 under 16. The Metropolitan Police has added the largest number of profiles to the register including 117,000 boys and 33,000 girls. The new figures come as it was claimed ministers are sneaking sweeping powers to collect and retain more DNA samples. The Tories said the Government was attempting to give itself a 'blank cheque' to store swabs and fingerprints of criminals and those cleared...

Dawn Butler, a Labour MP and Government whip, has admitted that her staff wrote a tribute to her supposedly written by Barack Obama. Ms Butler, the MP for Brent South, confirmed that the poorly-punctuated tribute letter, which was posted on her website, had merely been signed by Mr Obama when the then-presumptive Democratic presidential candidate visited London last July. The letter, which was printed on House of Commons headed paper, said: "Having met Dawn Butler MP I can see why she is one of only two black women in parliament. "She is bright, intelligent and determined. I say to the...

President Bush tonight awarded America’s highest civilian honour to Tony Blair in a ceremony at the White House. The outgoing President said Mr Blair was “a true friend of the United States” before hanging the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. The former Prime Minister stood in front of the President as the medal was bestowed upon him. “He will stand tall in history,” President Bush said.

Relations between the Government and the Church of England reached a new low on Sunday as Labour figures angrily hit back at criticism of the party's economic policy from several bishops. Anglican leaders led by Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, the Bishop of Manchester, accused Labour of being "morally corrupt" and "beguiled by money". Rev McCulloch described Gordon Brown's plan for Britain to borrow its way out of recession as "scandalous". The Bishops of Carlisle, Durham, Hulme, and Winchester also used interviews with The Sunday Telegraph to voice strong criticism of Labour's policies on the economy, poverty and social justice. The...