Nick Griffin

BNP leader, Nick Griffin has been elected to the European Parliament as Labour suffered their worst post-war election results and fell to third place behind the U.K Independence Party (UKIP).

The right wing leader won a seat in the north-west region while a second seat was secured by Andrew Brons, the BNP candidate for the Yorkshire and Humberside area. This was the first time an anti-immigration party had won a seat in the European elections.

Travelling to Manchester town hall in a police van following anti-fascist protests, Mr Griffin had to wait until around 2am before his win was confirmed after a two hour wrangle over who would obtain the last 8 seats of the North West. The Green Party fell behind the BNP while UKIP failed to secure a third seat.

Unprecedented scenes at the declaration showed Tory candidate Sir Robert Atkins describing the BNP as ‘an aberration’ whose success at the polls marked a sad day for British politics whilst Labour’s Arlene Mccarthy said they were “a party whose members included convicted rapists.”

Other candidates walked off the stage in protest when Mr Griffin gave his thank you speech, vindicating his party’s success. He attacked the ‘liberal elite’ who had built a ‘wall of lies’ over the years, to stop ‘ordinary people protesting about the removal of their freedom’.

He added: “Tonight that wall has been broken down in the North West and Yorkshire by hundreds of thousands of voters.

“The most demonised and lied about party in British politics has made a breakthrough. The public have had their say in a democratic election and we should respect that.”

Reaching their highest polling figures ever, the BNP received 9.8% of Yorkshire votes. They got 8.9% in the North East, 8.6% in the West and East Midlands, 4.4% in the South East and 5.5% in London.

Labour’s catastrophic defeat saw them gain just 15.3% of the vote in the European elections coming in third behind UKIP who polled 17.4% of the vote levelling labour’s 13 MEPs.

The Tories won with 28.6% of the European vote significantly beating Labour in Wales who also came second to the SNP in local elections securing 21% of the vote to the SNP’s 29%.

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman admitted the results were ‘dismal’ and that change was needed.
She said: “We have to understand the concerns people are expressing and address them.”

The results are likely to pour more pressure on Gordon Brown whose recent cabinet re-shuffle was intended to restore confidence amongst his political allies.

 

Silvio Berlusconi

Photographs of several females and a visibly aroused male in various states of undress have placed Silvio Berlusconi’s private life under the microscope once again. 

The photographs, taken secretly with a long lens, show guests at the Italian prime minister’s private villa in Sardinia.

Berlusconi’s lawyers have reacted angrily to the publication of a selection of the photographs in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, threatening legal action against anyone who publishes them in Italy.

The guests appear sunning themselves by a swimming pool, with one woman wearing a thong bikini while a naked male is captured in what appears to be a state of arousal.

Berlusconi himself appears in only one photograph, fully clothed, accompanied by a woman, also fully clothed.

Berlusconi has been under fire for alleged dalliances with women in recent weeks and fiercely denied claims that these photographs illustrated yet more debauchery in his personal life.

During an interview on Italian radio he said: “These are people who are bathing in a private jacuzzi in a private room.”

But his words bear little relation to the images, which illustrate guests outdoors with a jacuzzi visible in only one shot.

According to sources in Italy, this is not the first time Berlusconi has entertained in Sardinia. 

Models, television presenters and other guests are said to have been seen arriving by private jet to spend weekends at the prime minister’s luxury retreat.

Berlusconi’s supporters have refuted claims that he is acting inappropriately, while his detractors have used the incident as yet more ammunition to discredit the 72 year-old.

The photos can be viewed at El Pais’s website:

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/fotos/vetadas/Berlusconi/elppgl/20090604elpepuint_19/Tes

Businessman and The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar has been given the government role of enterprise tsar as part of the Cabinet reshuffle.

Multimillionaire Sir Alan is also to be made a Lord in Gordon Brown’s government, a new development in the political crisis unfolding today.

Brown and Sugar are long-standing friends and the 62-year-old from Hackney has given his full backing to the prime minister.

“A lot has gone on in the past few weeks, and he is resolute in his position and is going to see out his governance and, I think, quite rightly so,” he said on TV interviews.

“We need to get the economy moving again and, as far as I’m concerned, you couldn’t have a better person to do that because of his background as a chancellor.

“Having had the pleasure of meeting past prime ministers I can tell you, for what it’s worth, that this fellow should stay in place.

“What needs to be sorted out is the economic climate, small businesses and other enterprises.”

As a business and enterprise tsar, Lord-to-be Sugar will be advising the prime minister on how to boost the economy and help struggling businesses.

When asked about Mr Purnell’s resignation, Sir Alan said: “You will always have some people who will jump ship, there is no question of that.

“There are always people, not only in politics but in business that don’t agree with certain things.

“One person writing a letter doesn’t mean that everyone is collapsing like a pack of cards.”

A member of the Business Council for Britain, Sir Alan founded his own electronics company Amstrad at just 21.

Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson has been promoted as the new Home Secretary as Gordon Brown fights to save his premiership.

Mr Brown’s earlier than expected Cabinet reshuffle has also seen Alistair Darling keep his job as Chancellor even though he was widely tipped to be replaced by the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls.

John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, is also understood to be quitting but is said to be “remaining loyal” to Mr Brown.

The prime minister’s authority was severely weakened last night following the shock resignation of Pensions Secretary James Purnell, the first Labour heavyweight to openly call for Mr Brown to resign.

That bombshell has apparently forced Mr Brown into bringing forward his reshuffle of key ministers in a bid to stem the tide of further resignations in a week where Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith both quit the Cabinet.

Conservative leader, David Cameron, renewed his calls for Mr Brown to call a general election: “We have a government in complete chaos. We really do deserve better than this.”

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, echoed Mr Cameron’s calls for a snap election, adding that Labour had “lost the right to govern” after a wave of high-level resignations and political infighting.

The Cabinet reshuffle, a traditional sign of the prime minister’s strength, may have temporarily dampened calls from Labour backbenchers to ditch Mr Brown and have a leadership election.

But the results of yesterday’s local and European elections – widely expected to return crushing defeats for Labour – could destroy any stability that Mr Brown’s reshuffle may have achieved this morning.

The European elections results will be announced on Sunday at 9.00pm with the local county council and unitary council elections coming in over the weekend.