England Politics

Until he was named chancellor of the exchequer last week, 48-year-old Norman Lamont was better known to readers of Britain's tabloid press as "the man with the black eye." That unwanted sobriquet came in 1985 when a jealous suitor punched the married Lamont as he left the apartment of heiress Olga Polizzi, daughter of millionaire hotelier Lord Forte. For days, Lamont wore dark glasses as he carried out his duties as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's government.

For more than 40 years, William Bulger changed the subject when his brother's name was raised. That silence was broken Thursday when Bulger, president of the University of Massachusetts, testified before angry members of Congress about James "Whitey" Bulger, a Boston crime lord who disappeared in 1995, just as he was about to be indicted on murder, racketeering and extortion charges.

Margaret Thatcher, beset by a challenge from within her own ruling party, stunned Britain on Thursday by resigning as prime minister. Thatcher's decision to step down under fire came during a fractious fight for the Conservative Party leadership--and only a day after she had vowed in the House of Commons: "I fight on. I fight to win."

By conventional wisdom, David Blunkett should not have made it to the top of British government. The home secretary is a politician who doesn't suffer fools. He is unflinchingly blunt in an administration that weighs every word. And Blunkett, the country's chief law enforcement officer, is blind.

Paddy Ashdown, the leader of Britain's third-party Liberal Democrats and a politician who has been viewed as a potential prime minister, admitted Wednesday that he had an affair with his secretary five years ago. Able, popular and handsome, Ashdown--who previously served as a marine commando officer--made a personal statement declaring that he had a "brief relationship" with his then-secretary, Patricia Howard.

In recent days, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been described as a loose cannon and an unexploded bomb, all of which is meant to suggest she poses a wild-card "Thatcher problem" to current Prime Minister John Major. And while Major has gracefully passed over various remarks attributed to Thatcher, his aides express private concern that his onetime mentor could embarrass the government--at a time when it is trailing the Labor Party in opinion polls.

Britain's Conservative Party, one of the most enduring and successful political movements in the democratic world, on Tuesday began a long and uncertain road back from electoral defeat, internal division and a reputation tarnished by scandal. Favorite Kenneth Clarke led a five-man race to elect a party leader as successor to the defeated John Major but fell far short of victory in first-round balloting.

Call it a busman's paternity leave. British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that when his 45-year-old wife, Cherie Booth, gives birth to their fourth child next month, he will go into "holiday mode" for a time, canceling public engagements but otherwise running the country. Any parent knows that having a newborn is no holiday, so Blair's announcement Sunday sounded a little implausible. Like having your baby and sleeping too. Or like taking paternity leave and not taking it.

The British political scene was buzzing Tuesday with its latest scandal and its bewildering batch of elements. Alan Clark, the 66-year-old patrician who once was a favored member of Margaret Thatcher's government, was accused of having overlapping affairs with the wife of a British judge and her two daughters.

These are suddenly perplexing times for conservatives--both here and in the United States. Their ancient antagonists on the left are moving toward them in accepting limits on government's role in society. Yet on both sides of the Atlantic, the conservative parties paradoxically find themselves in retreat. In the United States, the Republican congressional majority is approaching disarray. Their term limits constitutional amendment crashed in the House.

Britain's political leaders threw their support behind the Anglo-U.S. military strikes against Afghanistan on Sunday after Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that the coalition will act with "reason and resolve" in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Wake a card-carrying member of Common Cause in the middle of the night, ask him to describe his ideal way to elect America's leaders and he'd probably come back with something very similar to the system they use in England. Compared with an American presidential campaign, British elections are short, unobtrusive and inexpensive. It's the difference between a week on the strip in Las Vegas and a night out at the bingo parlor in Liverpool. To U.S.

As Prime Minister Tony Blair formed a new government Friday on the heels of a sweeping electoral victory, his Protestant allies in Northern Ireland suffered a setback, casting doubt on the future of the peace process there. Blair paid a traditional postelection call on Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace before returning to 10 Downing St. to reshuffle his Cabinet for the Labor Party's second term.

As British voters mark their ballots today--and they do mark them, with a pencil--Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party appears headed for a conditional landslide. Polls show Blair holding a commanding lead over the enfeebled Conservative Party, virtually guaranteeing him a second term. However, an expected low voter turnout would underscore public disappointment with the pace of change in his first term.

As Conservative Party leader William Hague made his way through the flock of the faithful at a lunchtime rally Tuesday and an emcee introduced "the next prime minister of Britain," even many of his supporters let out an involuntary guffaw. The conservative Times of London newspaper had just thrown its support to the Labor Party for the first time ever, endorsing Prime Minister Tony Blair for a second term.

The economy is strong, the Conservative opposition has pilloried itself, and even the sun, seldom seen in Britain, is smiling on his campaign. Polls give Prime Minister Tony Blair an overwhelming lead going into Thursday's election, suggesting that his Labor Party will increase its majority in Parliament and, barring a political train wreck, he will be elected to a second term. And yet the British prime minister is campaigning like a man fighting for survival.

Prime Minister John Major was reelected Conservative Party leader Tuesday in a convincing vote of confidence that allowed him to remain head of the British government. Major won the support of two-thirds of the 329 Conservative members of Parliament eligible to vote, prevailing over his challenger, right-wing former Cabinet member John Redwood. Soon after the balloting, Major appeared outside No. 10 Downing St.

Sex, that traditional despoiler of Conservative Party politicians, is creating yet more scandals threatening Prime Minister John Major's enfeebled government. The running scandals involve sexual, political and financial peccadilloes among Tory politicians, which flatly contradict earnest, upright Major's new policy, dubbed "back to basics"--the British equivalent of the American "family values" campaign in which God, church and family are stressed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday launched his bid for a second term, calling a June 7 national election that he hopes will yield a landslide victory for his Labor Party to match its triumph four years ago. Riding a robust economy and a commanding lead in the polls, Blair had been expected to call the vote for May 3 but was forced to postpone it because of a nationwide foot-and-mouth epidemic among livestock.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that he was postponing local elections by a month to fight foot-and-mouth disease, signaling that plans for a general election would also have to wait. Blair said local council elections set for May 3 would be held June 7.