Reshuffling the Deck Chairs on Gordon Brown’s Listing Ship

Say you were Prime Minister of Britain, waking every day to your national media proclaiming your political death, fending off challenges to your authority from a fractured and fractious Labour Party and bracing against disastrous results in municipal and European elections. You might think a government reshuffle would be the best way to reassert your authority

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British PM’s aide quits over ‘smear’ e-mails row

A key aide to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has resigned after e-mails reportedly smearing top political opponents were leaked, British media said Sunday. The e-mails, which made a number of innuendo-laden suggestions about the private lives of politicians, including Conservative Party leader David Cameron, ended up in the hands of a well known political blogger, it was reported Saturday. According to The Observer, Damian McBride, a special adviser to Brown, discussed setting up a Web site to publish “scurrilous allegations about opponents” with former Labour party adviser Derek Draper

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Death toll rises in India fireworks factory fire

Twenty-two people were killed and 58 others injured in a fireworks factory fire in western India, police said Saturday. The e-mails, which made a number of innuendo-laden suggestions about the private lives of politicians, including Conservative Party leader David Cameron, ended up in the hands of a well known political blogger, the Telegraph reported

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UK terror chief quits after security blunder

Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer has resigned, the London mayor’s office said Thursday, a day after he accidentally exposed a sensitive document about a terrorism investigation. Police were forced to bring forward the timing of a series of raids after Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick unwittingly revealed the names of those to be arrested. Quick was photographed as he got out of a car at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s residence in London and the names were easily to read when the images were enlarged.

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Brown, bank chiefs thrash out G-20 plans

Top executives of leading international banks were meeting the British prime minister and treasury chief Tuesday to discuss kick-starting the global financial system ahead of next month’s G-20 summit. About a dozen representatives of U.S., Japanese, German and South African banks were at Downing Street to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling, a spokesman for the Treasury said.

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