Latest Politics of the United Kingdom Stories
By Adrian Croft CANBERRA (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair sparked a fresh bout of conjecture over his future on Monday when he said it may have been a mistake to rule out a fourth term. Newspapers also reported that Blair, facing media calls to resign over a "cash-for-favors" row, had decided when to stand aside but that he was not yet revealing the date. The prime minister, on a visit to Australia, was asked in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp if his...
By Adrian Croft CANBERRA (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair sparked a fresh bout of conjecture over his future on Monday when he said it may have been a mistake to rule out a fourth term. Newspapers also reported that Blair, facing media calls to resign over a "cash-for-favors" row, had decided when to stand aside but that he was not yet revealing the date. The prime minister, on a visit to Australia, was asked in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp if his...
NASSAU, Bahamas (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice officially turned her back on Wednesday on her dream job -- commissioner of the National Football League. "Unfortunately it came open at the wrong time," said Rice, an avid fan of pro football and especially the Cleveland Browns. The job is coming open after the commissioner for 16 years, Paul Tagliabue, announced on Tuesday he will retire in July. Rice, who has served President George W. Bush first as national...
LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday they were investigating Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor party in response to complaints related to the country's age-old honors system. "The Metropolitan Police Service has received three complaints about the Labor party under section 1 of the Honors Act 1925," the police said in a statement. "These allegations are being investigated by the Specialist Crime Directorate." It was not immediately clear who had made the complaints or...
LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday they were investigating Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor party in response to allegations of political sleaze. "The Metropolitan Police Service has received three complaints about the Labor party under section 1 of the Honors Act 1925," the police said in a statement. "These allegations are being investigated by the Specialist Crime Directorate."
By Madeline Chambers LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Liberal Democrats, potential kingmakers at the next election, will on Thursday choose a new leader tasked with reviving the party after a string of scandals which have left it in turmoil. Under Charles Kennedy, who quit as leader in January after saying he was battling an alcohol problem, the country's third biggest party won 22 percent of the vote in last May's election. Helped by its opposition to the Iraq war, that was the...
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government denied allegations on Tuesday that a memo of a conversation between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush included the suggestion of bombing Al Jazeera television. The prime minister's Downing Street office has received a request from the Arabic broadcaster to see a record of a conversation between Blair and Bush, which a British lawmaker said described a plan by the U.S. president to bomb the channel. "We will reply...
LONDON (Reuters) - Officials from Britain, France and Germany will meet counterparts from China, Russia and the United States in London next week to discuss how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions, a government spokesman said on Thursday. Separately, Foreign Minister Jack Straw said he thought Iran would be referred to the U.N. Security Council due to its decision to restart sensitive nuclear work this week. Asked by reporters whether Iran would be referred to the Security Council,...
By Madeline Chambers LONDON (Reuters) - A complete ban on smoking in all English pubs and clubs looks increasingly likely after the government said on Wednesday it would allow its lawmakers to vote according to conscience and not along party lines. The move averts a likely parliamentary revolt and possible defeat for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose plans propose a smoking ban which would exempt pubs which do not serve food and private clubs. Many lawmakers in Blair's Labour...
By Katherine Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - Britain scrapped plans on Wednesday to allow fugitive Northern Ireland paramilitaries, on the run for attacks committed before a 1998 peace agreement, to return to normal life without fear of imprisonment. Dozens of people who had been involved in political violence in the British-ruled province prior to the Good Friday Agreement had been set to benefit from the amnesty. Many of them live in the neighboring Irish republic or the United States....
