The bizarre decision to hold a secret Iraq war inquiry may be the end of Gordon Brown.
United Kingdom
Guy Rundle: What Gordon Brown did next … implode
England needs its mojo back
The gallows humour that is palpable in the British press is currently swamping interest in practical remedies. Christopher Lane think Brits need to channel a bit of DH Lawrence’s “ruddy and strong” England.
Nice people take drugs. No really. I saw it on a bus
If you are travelling around central London this month, don’t be surprised to see a double-decker bus carrying the campaign slogan “Nice People Take Drugs”, writes President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation Dr Alex Wodak.
Gordon Brown survives (for now): what the pundits say
Early this morning local time, British MPs offered the embattled British PM a reprieve. Pundits think it won’t last long.
Gordon Brown survives to fight another day
Gordon Brown faced off against rebel MPs in Committee Room 14 — and won.
Memo to Labour: real change only comes via an election
The Labour Party is determinedly unwilling to believe that its electoral sickness is terminal, says Dominic Lawson. But there is really only one cure.
Zimbabwe’s elderly whites cash in their ticket “home”
Hundreds of Zimbabwe’s elderly whites are being flown back to Britain by the same state that shipped them out to what was then Rhodesia in the 1950s.
Where did all go wrong for Gordon Brown?
In 2007, the papers were optimistic about British PM Gordon Brown. Nowadays all this praise and excitement reads like something from a parallel universe, writes Andy Beckett.
When does a government forfeit the moral right to govern?
Labour emerged from the 2005 general election with a solid, if unspectacular, mandate to govern Britain. But times have changed, argued The Independent’s leader.
Letter from...: Cambridge, as MP expenses scandal unfolds
Anything less than sleet in a howling gale is considered fine in Pommyland. We have at least been spared that so far. Gavin Moodie pens a postcard from Cambridge.
More than 200 MPs employ family members — and claim for it
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has established that many of the MPs — more than 200 in total — who employ relatives have been able to claim extra expenses.
Scamalot — England’s own watergate
Jon Stewart mocks the English over the expenses scandal, focusing in particular on the MP who had his moat cleaned.
Poet Laureate resists Westminster rhymes
Britain’s Poet Laurete, Carol Ann Duffy, has reluctantly started work on a poem about recent events.
10 strangest MP claims
Glitter toilet seat, Kit Kat bars, mole whacking… British MPs claimed it all.
Oops “British pensioners” on BNP leaflet actually Italian models
The British National Party has used stock photos previously used by dozens of websites to promote everything from painkillers to caravans in its pamphlets representing “typical Britons”. Hmmm.
Britain’s House of Commons speaker resigns
Michael Martin gives MPs what they asked for — his resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons. Thus ends a nine-year reign for the Glaswegian who started out as a sheet metal worker.
UK expenses rorts: Her Majesty is not amused
It is now reported that the Queen herself used the audience she gave Gordon Brown last Tuesday to express her distaste at the disclosures. It would be surprising if she hadn’t, writes Simon Heffer.
MPs’ rivers of exempt income
Like much of the wonderful tax-free world inhabited by MPs, their exemptions flow from statutory provisions they have voted through for themselves.
Eight weasel ways politicians avoid saying sorry
In years to come, psychologists will be writing doctoral theses on the responses by British MPs to the charges of dishonesty in the great allowances scandal of 2009.
schadenfreude Guy Rundle: Black days for Gordon Brown
The one undoubted advantage of Gordon Brown going now quickly … is that none of us would have to watch him go slowly
MPs behaved badly — but was it criminal?
Whatever the public anger and outrage, we must be clear that only conduct that was an offence at the time should be the subject of criminal penalties, says Robert Wardle.
The Tory couple who took taxpayers for £282,731
David Cameron was under mounting pressure last night to end the political career of one of his closest allies as the MPs’ expenses scandal claimed its first casualties.
UK expenses scandal: scalps taken on both side of house
Gordon Brown and David Cameron were tonight battling to salvage the reputation of parliament after the MPs’ expenses scandal claimed the first scalps from both major parties.
politicians behaving badly British parliament’s “darkest day”: MPs suspended
Britain’s widening MP expenses scandal has really hit home. Yesterday was the grimmest time that most could remember, with many still fearful about future disclosures, writes Philip Webster.
