In London, Giuliani Picks Up Cred and Cash

Candidate meets with Brown to close international tour

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama wrapped up his international tour today in London, chatting for two hours with PM Gordon Brown on Iraq, the economy, and the "special relationship" between the US and Britain. Obama, preparing to head home to Chicago, defended his trip to Europe and the Mideast as polls in the US show that Americans have mixed feelings about it, Reuters reports. More»

Ex-PM comes to aid of sworn foe Livingstone

(NEWSER) - With one week to go, the two main candidates in the race for mayor of London—maverick Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone and clownish Tory Boris Johnson—remain neck-and-neck. As the Labour Party realizes that it could lose the most important elected office in Britain, the Guardian reveals that Livingstone is receiving help from his former sworn enemies: Tony Blair and his spin doctor, Alistair Campbell. More»

Former British PM said to be doing fine after precautionary stay

(NEWSER) - Margaret Thatcher is back home after an overnight stay in a London hospital triggered by a "fainting episode," a spokesman says. Tests showed nothing more serious than that for the former British PM, the Guardian reports. Thatcher, 82, who suffered multiple strokes in 2005, smiled and waved to reporters upon arriving home. "She will have a nice restful few days," the spokesman said. More»

And I hated Gordon Brown

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey, has just hit stores, and it’s loaded with juicy revelations that have Britain talking. Among them:

• Blair says he used alcohol as “a prop,” with his daily intake “definitely at the outer limit” of what was acceptable. “By the standards of days gone by I was not even remotely a topper,” he protests, adding that his intake was “not excessively excessive. I had a limit.”
• Much of the headlines have been dominated by his always-rumored but until now denied feud with Gordon Brown . Blair says he knew Brown would be a “disastrous” prime minister, and blames him for the party’s recent losses

Labour sources drop bomb ahead of Blair memoir

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair and George Bush plotted to have Blair stay on as prime minister because Bush wasn't sold on Gordon Brown, claims the Sunday Telegraph . Labour Party sources tell the Telegraph that Bush's team expressed doubts about Brown after he "harangued" Condi Rice in a private meeting. Rice subsequently “complained to the White House about the way he behaved," an unnamed source says. The revelation comes ahead of Blair's hotly anticipated memoir, A Journey, which is out this week. More»