Labour Party erupted into civil war as eight members of the Government quit their posts today over Tony Blair's refusal to name a date for his resignation as Labour leader. Junior minister Tom Watson and seven parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) are among 17 normally loyal Labour MPs who have signed a letter calling on Mr Blair to quit.
A group of normally loyal Labour MPs have written to Tony Blair urging him to quit as prime minister. The MPs, who were principally elected in 2001, have confronted Mr Blair amid growing calls for him to give a date for his departure.
Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP has given five areas in which the Labour Party in government has failed:
The Conservatives have today announced that they would raise from "green" taxes. Liberal Democrat Environmental Spokesperson Chris Huhne said in response "It is flattering that the Tories are moving towards the Liberal Democrat position of supporting a rise in green taxes to change behaviour, but they still haven't proposed a single specific measure. Warm words are no substitute for hard plans. The key to changing behaviour is to raise green taxes, offset by cuts in income tax, whereas the Tories propose only to raise green taxes as a share of total taxes, which may be falling. That will not change behaviour at all."
Climate chaos is the greatest threat facing our society. Nine of the hottest ten years on record have been since 1990. Just in Britain, we have suffered two floods in 2002 that were meant to occur only every 30 years. We have had the wettest six months since records began in the eighteenth century, and the hottest summer temperatures in 2003. Storm surges, flood damage and droughts are rising. The Thames Barrier has been raised 55 times in the last five years, 12 times in the previous five.
Dozens of Labour Party members in Margaret Beckett's constituency are to defect to the Liberal Democrats today in protest at her handling of the Lebanon crisis. They announced their decision today at the Pakistani Community Centre, Derby.