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Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR seems to have constant trouble getting his way these days with Labour backbenchers. With all the appeals to the consciences of wayward MPs, [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent JACK STRAW was under pressure yesterday to veto England's planned cricket tour of Zimbabwe next autumn amid concern that the trip would endorse the regime [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent RAIL PASSENGERS were warned yesterday of disruption on some of Britain's busiest rail routes over Christmas as Network Rail announced a series of track closures [...]

Byline: Ben Russell FIVE FORMER cabinet ministers have joined more than 100 MPs in a fresh attack on Tony Blair's plans to introduce university top-up fees of up to pounds [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent LAWYERS AND civil liberties groups yesterday urged the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to back down over proposals to limit the right to trial by jury [...]

Byline: Ben Russell A FLEET of 67 advanced attack helicopters for the British Army, worth pounds 1.2bn, will lie idle for years because of delays in pilot training, MPs said [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent THE NHS has failed to provide equal care to rich and poor, John Reid admitted yesterday, as research revealed big disparities in treatment across the [...]

Byline: Ben Russell and Chris Bunting JOHN MAJOR has made a million on the American speaking circuit and in business boardrooms, and William Hague has carved out a career to [...]

Byline: Ben Russell AS A FORMER Tory whip, Derek Conway knows all the tricks of the smoke-filled backrooms. His experiences in the whips' office during the turbulent years of John [...]

Byline: Ben Russell AS A FORMER Tory whip, Derek Conway knows all the tricks of the smoke-filled backrooms. His experiences in the whips' office during John Major's premiership helped to [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent MINISTERS WERE accused of failing to tackle chronic staff shortages in secondary schools yesterday after official figures revealed vacancies have trebled since Labour came to [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR was accused of bending and twisting the truth in the run-up to war in Iraq as Conservatives accused him of shedding crocodile tears [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent STEVE NORRIS yesterday attacked the Metropolitan Police for failing to respond to the fears of ordinary Londoners and he pledged a New York- style drive [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent DEMANDS FOR employers to be forced to pay into staff pension schemes were overwhelmingly backed by the Labour conference yesterday after the leadership was ambushed [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent DEMANDS FOR employers to be forced to pay into staff pension schemes were overwhelmingly backed by the Labour conference yesterday after the leadership was ambushed [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR was accused yesterday of using 'false pretences' to win the crucial Commons vote on war with Iraq. Opponents of the war said they [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent SIR EDWARD Heath was in hospital last night after suffering a suspected blood clot on his lung while on holiday. The former Conservative prime minister, [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR may be flying to Barbados as the Westminster village decamps this summer but his less peripatetic Cabinet colleagues are venturing no further than [...]

Byline: Ben Russell THE ROW between Labour and the BBC descended into a personal dispute last night after MPs branded the reporter Andrew Gilligan an 'unsatisfactory witness'. The Commons Select [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent A SERIES of 'half truths and pathetic smokescreens' over the war in Iraq has undermined public trust and confidence in the Prime Minister and the [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent PRESSURE ON Tony Blair to justify the intelligence basis for war in Iraq increased yesterday after Hans Blix said the Government made a 'fundamental mistake' [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent A SUSPECTED IRA dissident, reported to be training Palestinian militants in the use of explosives, has been arrested by Israeli police in the West Bank [...]

Byline: Ben Russell and Andrew Buncombe in Washington THE WHITE House has dealt a devastating blow to Tony Blair by rejecting as flawed British claims that Saddam Hussein attempted to [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent MINISTERS SHOULD divert resources to the poorest regions and tailor policies to promote growth in different parts of Britain, a committee of MPs said yesterday. [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent NELSON MANDELA and Bill Clinton joined Tony Blair at Westminster last night to praise 100 years of Rhodes scholars and announce a new foundation to [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR'S refusal to release key intelligence documents will prevent a committee of MPs from delivering a verdict on claims that the Government exaggerated the [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent TONY BLAIR led a Cabinet backlash yesterday against claims by Clare Short and Robin Cook that ministers had exaggerated MI6 warnings about the threat posed [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent GOVERNMENT PLANS to introduce regional government in the North of England received a mixed reception after being unveiled yesterday. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, [...]

Byline: Ben Russell Political Correspondent JOHN PRESCOTT was accused yesterday of unveiling an expensive 'white elephant' after he announced plans to allow people from three parts of the North of [...]

TONY BLAIR will face a barrage of hostile questions in Parliament next week on the failure of coalition forces to uncover the weapons of mass destruction that formed the legal [...]

ONE OF Britain's most senior police officers was accused of 'exaggerating' the impact of immigration yesterday after declaring that mass migration was threatening to 'overwhelm' some towns and cities by [...]

JOHN REID was ridiculed yesterday for comparing the search for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction to the hunt for the money stolen in the Great Train Robbery. The Leader [...]

JOHN REID was ridiculed yesterday for comparing the search for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction to the hunt for the money stolen in the Great Train Robbery. The Leader [...]

CRIMINALS CONVICTED of kidnapping and killing children or of carrying out terrorist murders should never be released from prison under rules setting out when 'life will mean life' to be [...]

THE IRA was preparing for a third act of decommissioning and had indicated that its weapons could be 'definitively set aside' when talks with the British and Irish governments broke [...]

THE DONALD Rumsfeld soundbite has become something of an institution since America began banging the diplomatic drum for war on Iraq. The tortured syntax, the rolling eyes and the faintly [...]

HEADTEACHERS say last autumn's criminal records vetting fiasco, which left thousands of children without a teacher, is unresolved. Schools across the country were still waiting for checks on staff that [...]

FIFTY-SEVEN POLITICAL parties have been registered since the start of the year, hoping to challenge the might of Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in local elections. The applications to [...]

ENGLAND'S CRICKET authorities have been condemned over their plans for a tour of Zimbabwe, amid evidence of increasing violence, intimidation and torture by President Robert Mugabe's regime. The decision by [...]

THE POLITICAL and humanitarian climate in Zimbabwe has deteriorated in the past 12 months, a confidential Commonwealth report says. The report, by Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth secretary general, condemned Robert [...]

SYRIA FACED renewed warnings from America yesterday to not provide safe haven for senior figures in Saddam Hussein's regime. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, intensified diplomatic pressure on [...]

BRITAIN RISKS slumping out of the top 10 global tourist destinations within five years, a senior industry leader warned yesterday. Stephen Dowd, the chief executive of the British Incoming Tour [...]

TENS OF thousands of leaflets detailing Tony Blair's personal pledges for the future of Iraq are to be distributed by troops across Iraq, as part of a renewed publicity campaign [...]

SHIMON PERES, the former prime minister of Israel, has offered strong backing for the war against Iraq, saying an Allied victory against Saddam Hussein would be a triumph for the [...]

GORDON BROWN nearly doubled the budget set aside to cover the rising costs of the military campaign in Iraq yesterday, pouring pounds 1.25bn from reserves into an emergency fund. The [...]

DAVID BLUNKETT has ruled out interning Iraqis despite the increased threat of terrorists exploiting the outbreak of war against Saddam Hussein He said yesterday that the Home Office was interviewing [...]

ELEVEN LABOUR MPs who rebelled over Iraq last month softened their position on Tuesday and helped limit the revolt against war. They either abstained or backed Tony Blair after days [...]

CABINET MINISTERS were deployed to bolster support for Tony Blair over Iraq yesterday while rebel MPs predicted that up to 160 backbenchers opposed to war could join a rebellion later [...]

THE ATTORNEY General, Lord Goldsmith, will be summoned before the House of Lords next week to justify the legal basis for a war on Iraq. Liberal Democrat peers called the [...]

THE WEST has failed to make adequate plans to deal with a humanitarian crisis in Iraq in the wake of a war, MPs said yesterday. The Commons International Development Committee [...]