Labor Party England

The top fundraiser for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, a police source said. Michael Levy was arrested when he returned to a London police station for a bail hearing after his first arrest last year in connection with alleged offenses in a political funding scandal. Levy, who is also Blair's personal Middle East envoy, denied any wrongdoing. He was released on bail.

The British media fought off court-ordered censorship Tuesday to report allegations that the Labor government was advised to doctor its account of events surrounding the alleged trading of peerages for campaign loans.

Britain's Labor Party was facing one of its toughest election challenges in a decade today, after voters delivered what is widely seen as a last referendum on Prime Minister Tony Blair's government. Early returns from Thursday's vote offered few hints of a decisive outcome in a contest likely to determine the future of the Scottish independence movement and provide a window on Britain's political future after Blair.

Gordon Brown secured his place as Britain's next prime minister Thursday when he accepted the nomination as leader of the Labor Party with overwhelming backing from party members. "I am truly humbled that so many of my colleagues have nominated me," Brown said after the party's left wing failed to muster enough support to force a contest.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday handed over leadership of the Labor Party to his finance minister, Gordon Brown, who pledged that Britain would "meet our international obligations" in Afghanistan and the Middle East but called for going beyond military solutions to combating terrorism.

For much of the last year, Britain's ruling Labor Party has been on the run. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair had worn out his welcome. The new leader, Gordon Brown, was seen as boring, morose and too old-style liberal. The man to beat was David Cameron, the young sharp-witted Conservative Party leader. No more. Maybe it's the new prime minister's honeymoon, maybe, as many analysts say, the British are ready to go back to boring and safe after 10 years of silver-tongued Blair.

Voters in England on Thursday turned apparently innocuous local elections into a stinging rebuke of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair's Labor government, whose popularity was dented in 2003 by its support for the Iraq war, has faced a barrage of criticism in the last week over the bungled release of foreign convicts, hospital staff cuts and his married deputy's acknowledgment of an affair. By 5 a.m.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced down a looming rebellion from within his Labor Party on Monday, refusing demands from colleagues to name the date he would leave his job. "To state a timetable now would simply paralyze the proper working of government," Blair told a news conference. "It wouldn't end this distraction but would take it to a new level."

It was a race that could have been won. \o7Should\f7 have been won. With a growing immigrant population, mixed income groups, blocks of public housing next to upscale new coffee shops and a location along the Thames as it snakes westward out of the city, the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has been a Labor Party stronghold for much of the last 40 years. Schools in its eclectic neighborhoods cater to students who speak more than 130 languages. The British Broadcasting Corp.

Prime Minister Tony Blair moved Thursday to defuse the biggest revolt within his party since he took office more than nine years ago by pledging to step down within the next 12 months. But the Labor Party head, showing the dexterity that has enabled him to maintain power for so long in the turbulent world of British politics, refused to set a precise timetable for concluding his term amid demands that he depart quickly.