Police in the cash-for-honours inquiry are examining details of meetings attended by Lord Levy, Labour’s chief fundraiser, at which the question of political honours may have been discussed, The Guardian has learned. Detectives are investigating whether Levy later suggested to colleagues that they should not draw attention to his involvement in the discussions because of the fevered atmosphere surrounding the inquiry.
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/ 11 December 2006
Many of Britain’s big businesses — including supermarkets, banks, universities, hotel chains, hospitals and government departments — would be forced to sign up to a carbon trading scheme under proposals being drafted by ministers. The scheme has received an initial enthusiastic response from some of the companies.
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/ 18 September 2006
The year of waiting, the countless hours of planning — if not plotting — are over. Gordon Brown, it seems, has not just measured the curtains at No 10 Downing Street metaphorically. They have been ordered and delivered. Indeed, Brown is actually preparing to move into No 10, and not on May 4 or May 31, but possibly sooner.
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/ 2 December 2005
BP announced recently it is to build the biggest alternative power business in the world, capable of producing -billion worth of revenues a year from projects in Britain and abroad within 10 years. The move came on the eve of an announcement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he would launch a six-month energy review that many believe will open the door to a new generation of nuclear plants.
The first G7 gathering took place in 1975, the start of a history of broken pledges, verbose communiqués and intangible commitments by the rich world to do something about Africa. At the last British G8 in Birmingham in 1998, Tony Blair sounded hopeful. The final communiqué said: ”We are encouraged by the new spirit of hope and progress in Africa.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown was on Wednesday finalising the details of a new deal to wipe out the multilateral debts of Africa’s poorest countries after British Prime Minister Tony Blair won agreement in principle from United States President George W Bush on Tuesday in Washington.
The British political establishment last week embarked on its four-yearly quest for the support of 44-million voters in the 2005 general election in a mood of barely concealed anxiety about what the campaign may hold. Speaking in Downing Street, Prime Minister Tony Blair said: ”It is a big choice, a fundamental choice and there is a lot at stake.” Labour have pledged to ”fight for every seat and every vote.”
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/ 13 January 2005
An effective Aids vaccine could be found as early as 2012, saving six million lives if the world is willing to put £10-billion a year into a new programme, the British chancellor, Gordon Brown, said in a speech on Wednesday night in Tanzania. Brown put forward a four-point package to fight HIV/Aids as a central strand of Britain’s presidency of the G8 this year.
British minister wants more aid for Africa
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/ 22 October 2004
The British Cabinet risked the wrath of Labour Party backbenchers on Thursday by endorsing the dispatch of 650 Black Watch troops into a high-risk United States-controlled area south of Baghdad. The troops will move north shortly, and will be replaced by Scots Guards now based in Cyprus. The decision means the United Kingdom will increase the number of troops it has in Iraq by 600.
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/ 14 November 2003
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will use talks with United States President George W Bush during his visit to London next week to argue for a cautious shift of power within Iraq, concessions for the Britons held at Guantanamo Bay and reassurances for the Americans about Europe’s military intentions.