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Cameron, Clegg Scramble to Form UK Government
 Cameron, Clegg Scramble 
 to Form UK Government  
Brown urged to step down

Cameron, Clegg Scramble to Form UK Government

Election leaves Liberal Dems in driver's seat

(Newser) - Britain's winner-less election has left both the Conservatives and the Labour Party furiously negotiating with and sucking up to Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrat party, with papers just as furiously live-blogging the comings and goings. Though they actually lost seats, the Liberal Dems have the power to determine who becomes prime...

BBC Journo Stuns Brown with Pill-Popping Question

Labor furious after interviewer follows up Internet rumors

(Newser) - Gordon Brown's office and the British Labor Party are furious with the BBC after the host of the channel's flagship political program asked the prime minister if he took prescription painkillers. Downing Street had already denied the rumor, which began on the Internet. A shocked Brown responded: "No! I...

As 4th Minister Quits, Brown's Outlook Bleak

Blears resigns in potentially fatal blow to PM's authority

(Newser) - With one day to go before clutch British elections, another minister resigned from Gordon Brown's Cabinet today, dealing the beleaguered PM another devastating blow. Hazel Blears, an arch-Blairite who was exposed for avoiding $21,000 in capital gains tax, refused to praise Brown in her resignation statement. She is the...

Brown to Purge Cabinet After Expenses Flap

Scandal-hit ministers face axe as PM plans government overhaul

(Newser) - Gordon Brown has been dropping hints of a major reshuffle and possible constitutional reform as the crisis over British MPs' expenses continues. The Telegraph alleged today that two ministers fiddled with the rules to avoid paying capital gains tax after selling their homes. The PM is said to be preparing...

UK Minister Denies He Bet Governing Party Would Falter

Lord West got 66-1 odds on Labour defeat

(Newser) - Lord Alan West, the UK’s colorful security minister, today denied he’d bet on the Labour party’s defeat in the next election, the Times of London reports. The Telegraph yesterday alleged that West placed the bet when Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister, grabbing 66-1 odds....

Lost Contact Lens Delays Brown Speech

British PM, already blind in one eye, may be losing sight in other

(Newser) - Gordon Brown was forced to delay a speech to a Labour Party conference last week after he accidentally washed a contact lens down the sink, reports the Times of London. The British PM had no extra pair, and a staff worker had to detach the pipe beneath the sink to...

Downturn 'Worst for 100 Years': UK Minister

Brown ally says current crisis surpasses Great Depression

(Newser) - The current economic crisis will be the worst in a century, surpassing even the Great Depression, according to Gordon Brown's closest political ally. Ed Balls, a minister sometimes tipped as a future British leader, said that the downturn would be "more extreme and more serious than that of the...

'War on Terror' Approach a Big Mistake: UK Official

Foreign sec Miliband rips Bush label

(Newser) - The notion of a "war on terror" is ill-conceived and may have done more harm than good in the fight against extremism, according to the British foreign secretary. There is no "unified transnational enemy," and the phrase coined by President Bush led officials to believe that...

Brown Surges 11 Points in Latest Poll

Once written off, British PM wins support in financial crisis

(Newser) - A new poll for the Independent shows that Gordon Brown, Britain's once seemingly doomed prime minister, has surged 11 points as the financial crisis continues. The poll put support for the opposition Tories at 39%, Labour at 31%, and the third-party Liberal Democrats at 16%. Where once the Tories were...

Top Allies Look to Unseat Gordon Brown

Knives come out for battered PM as Labour ministers plan revolt

(Newser) - Several of the leading members of Gordon Brown's government will try to oust him as prime minister, reports the Times of London. Two contenders have emerged in a possible leadership challenge: David Miliband, the youthful foreign secretary allied with Tony Blair; and Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour...

Brown, Clinton Suffer Same Fate
 Brown, Clinton Suffer Same Fate 
OPINION

Brown, Clinton Suffer Same Fate

For Clinton and Brown, Iraq is the unspoken element

(Newser) - In the last few weeks, two giants of center-left politics—Hillary Clinton in America and Gordon Brown in Britain—have seen their electoral chances reduced to near impossibility. Both have struggled as uncharismatic politicians in a media age. But for one columnist in London's Times, their trajectories have more important...

Down in Polls, Brown Admits 'Mistakes'

Ahead of UK local voting, PM confesses tax missteps

(Newser) - With polls predicting big losses for his Labour party in tomorrow’s local elections, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted he’d made mistakes in the past six months, Reuters reports. Chiefly, Brown acknowledged increasing the tax burden on the lowest-paid workers and those aged 60-64, but said both problems...

Brown Under Fire for U-Turn on Elections

PM ditched snap vote when it looked like Labour would lose

(Newser) - Gordon Brown has a new nickname: “bottler,” British slang for someone who’s lost their nerve at the last minute. He's facing heavy criticism for the unpopular decision not to hold a snap general election this autumn after learning that his Labor party lags 6 points behind the...

Blair Ally to Step Down
Blair Ally
to Step Down

Blair Ally to Step Down

Home secretary's surprise announcement frees new PM to overhaul cabinet

(Newser) - British Home Secretary John Reid will stand down, he announced yesterday, giving PM apparent Gordon Brown space to rejigger the cabinet when he succeeds Tony Blair. Tensions have run high between the old and new Labour leaders' supporters, but Reid stressed that his surprise departure was personal; the Guardian reports...

Blair Points To Successor
Blair Points
To Successor

Blair Points To Successor

After 10 years at No. 10, PM says he'll pass torch to Brown within weeks

(Newser) - As he marked a decade in power, British prime minister Tony Blair said yesterday he'll step down within weeks. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is expected to succeed Blair, who stopped short of officially anointing Brown but told a Labour rally, "In all probability, a Scot will become...

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