down with murder inc

BLAIR IN SWEAT OVER NHS
19th April 2006 - dailyrecord.co.uk
TONY BLAIR was sweating buckets again yesterday in a major speech on the NHS - but blamed his perspiration on a "hot room". The PM's beads of sweat drew comments as he told consultants in London at think-tank New Health Network that Labour must press on with reform.
Blair, 52 - who had a heart op two years ago - was famously drenched before, during a Labour Party conference speech in 2000. But yesterday he joked: "Thank you to the New Health Network for providing me with a sauna at the same time as an opportunity to make a major speech.
"It's all part of the Government's new NHS framework."

Labour 'meltdown' sees NAZI BNP used as a foil
A triple whammy of controversies facing Blair JUNTA
Charles Clarkes faces calls to quit after the Xenophobic Foreign Criminals PSYOP [see below] - Oppostition stooge 'Dave' Cameron somewhat helpfully for the Blair Junta - called for a specially appointed Homeland security minister
Deputy prime Minister John Prescott admitted to an affair with his secretary & Health Minister Patricia Hewitt was roundly heckled & booed at Nurse convention after arrogance not seen since the Thatcher era...
A week before all this came out - Labour ministers were warning of a shift of voters choosing the BNP in forthcoming local elections...Headlines appeared across the mainstream press last week painting an apocalyptic scenario of swathes of disaffected white working class voters switching their votes from Labour to the BNP. Employment minister Margaret Hodge said eight out of ten white voters might vote BNP in Barking, it was linked by many in the media to a new report called The BNP: The Roots of its Appeal
I know there isn't much of a choice...but - PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR THEM

The real Nazis overshadow the other rabble

With plans to put as many as 600 candidates up for seats in local elections next month , the BNP is hoping to increase its standing from the 20 councillors it has nationally. BNP will contest 106 seats in Yorkshire alone

Hewitt given silent treatment as anger grows over NHS cuts

Lizzie Murphy - 25 April 2006 - yorkshire today.co.uk

THE number of NHS hospital managers has doubled in 10 years, the Government revealed yesterday as Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt faced mounting anger over job losses.

Overall, the NHS workforce in England has grown by 30 per cent over the decade, according to the figures published by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care. The centre said the figures showed that more than 1.3 million people were employed in the NHS in 2005, compared with a million in 1995, making the workforce figure the highest ever.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said the latest reforms had increased administration and bureaucracy and the need to employ more managers and that more money needed to be put into front-line services.

But a spokesman for the Department of Health said managers only accounted for less than three per cent of the total workforce, compared with nurses who made up more than a quarter.

The figures were revealed as Ms Hewitt came under fire during Unison's health workers' conference in Gateshead yesterday over job losses and privatisation of services. And nurses meeting for their annual conference in Bournemouth accused the Government of being "out of touch" with what goes on in NHS wards, saying their morale was at an all-time low.

Beverly Malone, the Royal College of Nursing's general secretary, said her members had considered stopping working unpaid overtime, which added up to the equivalent of one day a week

About 1,000 delegates at the Unison conference sat in stony silence as the Minister was introduced.

Ms Hewitt was also heckled as she delivered sections of her speech. Some delegates held up banners which read: "Sack Blair, not health workers."

Mr Prentis said billions of pounds of taxpayers' money were being "siphoned out" of the NHS into multinational companies.

The Minister said this was a "challenging time" for the NHS and for all health workers and said there would have to be some "tough decisions" made about the future. Ms Hewitt said she made no apology for repeating her controversial claim that the NHS had just achieved its best year.

She said that when Labour came to power in 1997 more than 280,000 people were waiting more than six months for a hip operation or other type of serious operation, patients were waiting on trolleys in accident and emergency departments and there was a beds crisis every winter.

That position had now changed, which had been coupled with a huge increase in NHS staff.

Ms Hewitt maintained that most of the NHS was not in deficit, adding that current problems over spending were "manageable".

Just seven per cent of NHS organisations were responsible for 50 per cent of the deficit, she said. The NHS had to become more efficient, she said, adding that many of the redundancies being announced involved agency staff rather than NHS employees. She defended the use of the independent sector to help reduce waiting lists and treat more patients but her comments sparked cries of "rubbish" from several delegates.

Hewitt tells NHS to stop moaning

Published: Wednesday 26th April 2006 - news.pipex.com/ Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt warned NHS hospital chiefs on Wednesday to stop moaning about the impact of new Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTC). MPs had demanded she reveal how many state-run health facilities and public sector staff she expected to be lost because of the competition. She refused to give any figure and said hospitals should be looking instead at how to make their own services more attractive.

The head of the NHS revealed to MPs that he had not excluded allowing private firms to provide accident and emergency and other services in the future. Ms Hewitt told the Health Select Committee that complaints hospitals could be "crippled" by the ISTCs - which carry out basic procedures for the NHS - were unfounded.

She said: "What I would hope is that the chief executives who are currently saying, 'We are going to be put out of business' instead would say, 'How do we make ourselves a foundation trust? What do we need to do to improve the quality of care? "What do we need to do to improve patient satisfaction? What do we need to do to improve best value for money and make sure that if an ISTC comes along we will be better and the patient will come to us instead of to them?' Instead of saying, 'This is terrible and we're going to lose our patients."'

Ms Hewitt said the criticisms appeared to imply there was a "dwindling number" of patients to treat, whereas the sector was growing.

Negotiations are underway with private firms to create a second wave of ISTCs, which carry out procedures such as cataract surgery and hip replacements for the NHS. They have been told they cannot currently extend into more complex areas, and Ms Hewitt said she did not think she would want to see them do so. However, acting NHS chief executive Sir Ian Carruthers said it could not be ruled out in the future as private firms worldwide improved the work they could conduct.

He told the committee: "Never say never."

Ms Hewitt said ISTCs had cut waiting lists, given the NHS a needed kick to modernise its practices, and reduced the costs of operations. She said the quality they provided was at least as good, although she conceded better information was needed for patients to make a proper choice. She rejected claims they were damaging the health service by "cherry picking" easier procedures, and said the new centres were likely to receive less state support.

Ms Hewitt said that "take or pay" contracts, where the centres were paid even when they had no work to do, would be a "much less significant" part of the next wave. But she confirmed that restrictions on them recruiting staff from the NHS would be relaxed.

The Healthcare Commission said today that it had accepted a request from the Government to review the quality of care provided by ISTCs and check it against what patients might expect in the NHS. Chief executive Anna Walker said it would assess the care and the information available to patients to support their decisions.

The Commission will also seek the views of royal medical colleges, associations of specialists, public and patients' groups, and other stakeholders.

"Patients and the public will rightly wish to know about quality of care as the Government uses a greater range of providers to deliver health services," she said. "People need to know they are getting at least the same standards that they would get from the NHS. "The time is right to undertake a full and independent assessment of the facts about ISTCs. "Our aim is to provide that assessment and consider any lessons for the future, making recommendations where appropriate."

The Commission will publish its report by the end of the year.

200 million chickens have been
culled worldwide since 2003.

if it's safe to eat - why are some burning them? FEAR...

Bird Flu UK scares continue - Deja Vu - Just like Foot & Mouth

Preliminary tests suggest that the H7 strain of the avian influenza virus has been found on a poultry farm near Dereham in Norfolk. The initial tests, which were carried out at Weybridge, Surrey, by the Central Science Laboratory, have revealed that the virus is not the lethal H5N1 type found in a dead swan at Cellardyke, in Fife, Scotland last month.

Movement restrictions have been imposed at the farm at North Tuddenham, near Dereham, while investigations into the possible sources of the infection continue. Officials at Defra last night stressed that the entire flock of 35,000 chickens will be slaughtered as part of precautions to prevent the potential spread of the disease.

- more PSYOPS

BBC xenophobia: runs top TV news story on fear of foreigners

1,023 prisoners, who were released between February 1999 and March 2006, apparantly should have been considered for deportation or removal.

Can someone explain to me how child sex offender / murderers /rapists can be released...after serving what kind of sentence? what kind of rehabilitation? why does it matter so much to this story that they are foreign? but you see that's the point...it is a PSYOP designed to make you angry:

Charles Clarke said the failure was "deeply regrettable" and conceded that people would be angered by the oversight.

So far the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) has located 107 of the total, leading to 20 deportations. Among the offenders, five had been convicted of committing sex offences on children, seven had served time for other sex offences, 57 for violent offences and two for manslaughter. There were also 41 burglars, 20 drug importers, 54 convicted of assault and 27 of indecent assault. The Home Office said it did not have full details of offences committed by more than 100 of the criminals.

The BBC ran with the 6 o'clock TV evening news "could one of these be living next to you?"

Prisoners who are released...are no longer prisoners...or criminals...if they have served their sentence then their slate is clean...Another point: what's the point in moving the problem around the world by deporting supposed criminals to commit crime somewhere else?

BBC News carries out a key objective of the BBC's Royal Charter: to "collect news and information in any part of the world and in any manner that may be thought fit". - FACT: Veteran Newsreader Anna Ford Is leaving the BBC because of censorship...she feels that the channel no longer represents free-speech...

Clarke wants you to be angry

This shamelessly Fascist Government / Media stunt is pure PSYOPS designed to make the public accept the DNA database, satellite tagging & tracking, the ID card measures ...and the automatic connection between suspicion of foreign nationals, terrorism laws and pedophilia / sex crimes which will lead to yet more of a climate of fear & hatred...

So who will die because they look foreign simply for walking through a park?

Charles Clarke's speech on the media and civil liberties

This is the full text of the home secretary's speech at the LSE

Monday April 24, 2006 - The Guardian

I have been asked this evening to talk about the relationship between the media and politics.

There is of course a great deal to be said about this subject, and much has been said.

But what I want to focus on today is what I think is at the core of the problem which is the differing and conflicting agendas from which politics and the media address the world.

Part of this is about the recurrent theme of agenda-setting, or 'spin' in the vernacular. I have argued before, and will not repeat in detail today, my view that it is the media, whose direct access to the majority of the public which no politician can even contest, who have been for some decades now the principal 'spinners' of truth as they have sought to be the public agenda-setters. It is their grip which politicians of all colours have sought to contest. I believe that this is even truer in the 7/24 media world where synthetic novelty and personality take on great importance to media planners.

Such disputes about political, policy or public agendas are now par for the course and the various media outlets, whether TV and radio news and current affairs programmes or great national newspapers, all have their own approach to political debate to which politics has to adapt as best it can.

More profound, and of an entirely different order, is the prism through which the media sees its role in relation to the wider world. And how this means it conducts the debate over civil liberties.

I think that this stems from the entirely noble view of the free media as a fundamental bastion against dictatorship and totalitarianism. There are many examples of the importance of that role. I have no doubt for example that one of the main reasons for the relatively peaceful collapse of the Apartheid state or of totalitarianism in the former Soviet empire is the influence of the free media upon the peoples of those countries.

And of course the advance of democracy has been profound and substantial. As recently as the early 1970s, when I was at university there was fascism in Spain and Portugal and a military regime in Greece, totalitarian communism dominated eastern and central Europe, apartheid South Africa was accompanied by colonialist regimes throughout Southern Africa, Latin and Central America were dominated by military dictatorship and in Asia democratic India was very much the exception.

But now in all these parts of the world, democracy has been established, of course still evolving, of course still facing very real difficulties, of course still needing very material improvement - but all so very much better than the totalitarianism or military despotism which it replaces.

And my generation has been brought up upon those struggles for democracy. Many of us participated in small ways and all of us, both in politics and the media, were deeply influenced by the experience.

And of course the campaign for democracy continues, most notably in the Middle East where some of the issues are most difficult.

So in this campaign, the media has, with much justification, generally seen itself as on the side of the good guys.

But I believe that a pernicious and even dangerous poison is now slipping into at least some parts of this media view of the world. In the absence of many of the genuinely dangerous and evil totalitarian dictatorships to fight - since they've gone - the media has steadily rhetorically transferred to some of the existing democracies, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, some of the characteristics of those dictatorships.

So some commentators routinely use language like 'police state', 'fascist', 'hijacking our democracy', 'creeping authoritarianism', 'destruction of the rule of law', whilst words like 'holocaust', 'gulag' and 'apartheid' are regularly used descriptively of our society in ways which must be truly offensive to those who experienced those realities.

As these descriptions and language are used, the truth just flies out of the window, as does any adherence to professional journalistic standards or any requirement to examine the facts and check them with rigour. In the case of often complex debates, for example on the appropriate balance between liberty and security, much media comment reduces itself to simplistic and flowery rhetoric.

One recent example of this was the articles of Henry Porter which have stimulated the e-mail exchange between him and Tony Blair in yesterday's 'Observer'.

Another is Simon Carr's article in the 'Independent' on April 15th which lists 34 'measures and effects' which in his opinion mean that in this country we no longer live in a liberal and democratic society. Many of these assertions are frequently accepted as fact by media commentators. I have replied to him pointing to his numerous and unprofessional misleading statements as well as the many errors of fact. A copy of my reply is on the Home Office website.

But let me draw your attention to a number of these frequently asserted 'myths' where incorrect, tendentious and over-simplified statements have been made about this government's record on civil liberties.

Carr asserts, for instance, that, "damaging GM crops is defined as a terrorist act". Where is this idea from? Nowhere in terrorism legislation is damaging GM crop fields defined as a terrorist act. Damaging crops is a criminal act on its own account and would be treated as such by the police where appropriate.

Or what about the statement: "People wearing satirical T-shirts in a "designated area" may be arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The City of London is a permanently 'designated area'". Wrong again. There is no such provision in any Prevention of Terrorism Act. Nor is there any law against bad taste in t-shirts as long as they do not, for example, incite murder.

And I particularly like this one: "The National Identity Register may be used to record every sort of personal information- such as withdrawing more than £200 from the bank, getting prescription drugs, voting, applying for a mortgage, taking out an insurance policy, applying for a fishing licence". Wholly untrue, I am glad to report.

The National Identity Scheme is being introduced to safeguard people's identities, not track their lifestyle or activities. The information that can be held on the National Identity Register covers only basic personal information roughly the same as that needed for a passport. It will not include details of withdrawals of cash from bank accounts, medical records or even whether someone has obtained a fishing licence.

In some instances, some assertions are broadly right. For example, on whether "People can protest in Parliament Square only with the written permission of the police. Where 'reasonably practical', six days notice must be given." But what is not added is that in some cases 24 hours notice is sufficient. Or that since the legislation came into effect last August, 157 demonstrations have taken place in Parliament Square ranging from human rights in Burma to a protest about the right to protest itself. Organisers of demonstrations must give prior notice to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who is then obliged to authorise the demonstration although he may attach conditions to the authorisation where it is necessary. This is more or less the same as the situation that prevailed in the 1970s when I myself organised demonstrations in Parliament Square.

It is also right that, "three million DNA samples are held on file (rising to four million in two years)." And thank goodness for that. In 2004/05 the detection rate rose from 26% to 40% in cases where DNA was successfully recovered from a crime scene. The DNA Database now holds the majority of the known active offender population and is a powerful tool.

And let me conclude with one of the more ridiculous statements: "The presumption of innocence is no longer a fixed legal principal". This is complete nonsense. In this country that you are innocent of an offence until proven guilty.

Don't let us confuse, as some people have tried to do with this assertion, the presumption of innocence with the urgent need to prevent criminal acts ranging from anti-social behaviour to terrorism. Ordinary people also have the right to be protected.

Yet another is Jenni Russell writing in the 'Guardian' on April 6th, who writes that 'Tony Blair's administration is removing the safeguards that protect all of us from the whims of a government and the intrusion of a powerful state. It is engaged in a ferocious power-grab'. These are ridiculous assertions, unsupported in a long article by any hint of understanding the balance of powers which currently exists in our society, whether legal or political. It's at one with her assertion in today's "Guardian" that "Britain is about to create a tracking system for its citizens, unprecedented in the western world, which would allow officials, foreign governments and hackers to follow almost everything we do", a fantasy just about as dark as it's possible to imagine, and completely untrue.

These pieces are in my opinion symptomatic of a more general intellectual laziness which seeks to slip onto the shoulders of modern democratic states the mantle of dictatorial power.

Some of this, it is true, flows from criticism of the United States, and particularly the policies of the Bush administration, notably in relation to Iraq but more generally in criticism of the response of the US and the UK to the 9/11 attack.

Such criticism fails to understand the immense significance of 9/11 in clarifying the nature of the new world that is emerging so strongly in this century.

From 1945 until the end of the 20th century it was the fight for democracy against dictatorship which dominated both the media and politics. Nazism and Stalinism were the twin enemies, and only after 1990 could totalitarian communism be said to be in retreat. In that climate it was the human rights of the individual in relation to the State which were pre-eminent. Those politicians and journalists who fought for individual rights against the tyrannical state set the agenda. It was in response to those imperatives that the United Nations Conventions, the European Convention on Human Rights were established and became central to our experience.

However, as democracy has advanced so powerfully across the world, other rights become important too. The right to go to work safely on the tube. The right no to be killed by someone who has served his sentence for violent crime but remains dangerous. The right to live at home without being disturbed by anti-social behaviour outside the front door. And much more.

None of these rights remove the right of any individual to exercise their freedoms in relation to the state. None of them remove the obligation on the state to operate in accordance with its national and international obligations under law.

But all of these other rights are real too. All of them are the routine subject of complaint - in my opinion justified - to which democratic politicians have - rightly - the obligation to respond.

But when we do respond, for example with Counter-Terror legislation, for example with proposals to try and control those criminals who are dangerous to society, for example with Anti-Social behaviour orders, many in the media retort that we are destroying democracy and constructing tyranny. And too many resort to misrepresentation and deceit to try and strengthen their case.

So my appeal this evening is to urge our media to come to terms with a modern concept of rights and responsibilities in our society; to continue their historically important campaign to replace dictatorship with democracy, whilst recognising that an enormous amount has been achieved in recent decades; to accept and applaud the differences between democratic states and dictatorships; to accept the modern reality that human rights are wider than simply those rights which the individual possesses in relation to the state; and to work with politics to consider how best those rights too can be fulfilled.

working class? then you should be ANGRY...[That's what they want]
Murdoch helps spin the anger to suit the agenda...
notice the fake attack on fellow Government propagandists...the BBC

The Murdoch owned Sun says:
Clarke must go
HUNDREDS of ex-cons who should have been kicked out of Britain are loose on our streets - and police haven't a clue where to find them. They include three murderers, nine rapists and five child sex fiends. Others were banged up for manslaughter, thuggery, drugs and robbery. All were candidates for deportation.
A flushed and sweating Charles Clarke admits people are entitled to be "concerned, possibly angry".
That's not good enough. People are entitled to the Home Secretary's resignation - or instant dismissal for rank negligence. Incredibly, 288 criminals have gone missing since he was first warned about the crisis. Labour's "tough on crime" boast is a joke. Key staff do not talk to each other.
As a result, dangerous hardmen are rated "low risk" and set free to kill and rape again by officials who don't read their records.
Probation staff - when they are not off sick - can't be bothered to keep tabs. Now, almost by accident, we learn hundreds of foreign crooks have disappeared without trace.
Mr Clarke, the government's "Captain Chaos", shrugs it off as a communications breakdown. But there is a theme to these government "blind spots". Ministers are desperate to avoid enraging the Left by cracking down on illegals. Deportations are rare. Yet jails are bursting at the seams because 10,000 inmates - one in eight of all prisoners - are foreign-born, most of them asylum cheats.
Is it possible the Government would prefer killers to disappear without trace rather than be seen loading them on the next plane home?
The Home Secretary insists he is not in the "blame game".
Well, we ARE. And we blame YOU, Mr Clarke.

Bloated Beeb
THE BBC's subsidised tentacles spread ever deeper into territory where it has no place. It uses its gigantic £3billion licence fee to compete with commercial radio, steal TV success stories and use its vast resources on the cheap to imitate Sky TV, part-owned by The Sun's parent company, News International. Now the Beeb is upgrading its globally famous website to deliver more user-generated content and support unsigned music groups.
This ruthless expansion is loftily defended in the name of public service broadcasting. In fact, the Beeb is unfairly staking other people's money in risk-free rivalry with firms who must live or die in the market.

Earlier this week: Murdoch mouthpiece becomes a Bush Mouthpiece
Rabid Republican News presenter and ex Bush senior speechwriter...
appointed as GW's Propagandist Press Sec.

Radio host 'to be Bush spokesman'
Story from BBC - Published: 2006/04/26
Conservative radio presenter Tony Snow is to be named as US President George W Bush's new press secretary, Republican party officials have said.
Mr Snow replaces Scott McClellan, who resigned last week as part of a shake-up of Mr Bush's top staff.
The president is expected to announce the appointment on Wednesday.
Correspondents say Mr Snow, who was a speechwriter for the president's father, has sometimes criticised Mr Bush for not being conservative enough. He currently hosts two shows on the Fox News network owned by the media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
The 50-year-old is the first Washington pundit to take over the press lectern at the White House. His record is already being closely examined to see whether he has expressed views that conflict with the president's.
But the BBC's James Westhead in Washington says the White House will be hoping a former journalist may ensure a smoother ride with the press than it has enjoyed in recent months.

in the classic BBC political satire 'Yes Minister' : arch civil service ideologogue Sir Humphrey tell his collegue: "A ship that leaks from the top always manages to stay afloat..."
So here's a scenario:
are Patricia Hewitt & John Prescott both against the UK alligning with a coming US attack on Iran...? are they are now being smeared & set up for a fall - and will they leave the cabinet...? [helping to pave the way for pro-war MP's]...Compare Hewits treatment by Nurses with that of the way hecklers were ejected & manhandled during Jack Straws speech at the Labour conference...
Charles Clarke is playing the media in order to get more powers not necessarily for him but for the Home Office dept [falling on swords is common...especially when a peerage has been promised!] ...the details of the suppossed release of 'foreign criminals' come from documents obtained - a dead giveaway that these have in fact been leaked by the Home Office themselves...A failure in the system often proves very useful in demanding more powers and a change in the law...this will only benefit New Labours increasingly authoritarian stance ...
for instance: Scanners in Airports & Train stations are just the beginning...they are next to useless if everyone remains anonymous...and that's where ID cards come into play...used symbiotically...ID cards / RFID microchipped goods become a way of tagging / tracking, thus monitoring all citizens behavior...

Immigration is now being made synonymous with crime which is to be used in conjuntion with a 'terror threat'...an extremist policy ...while rather ironically Ministers simultaneously ramp up the fear of the Neo-Nationalist BNP..and also appear to be giving them a platform ...driving middle class voters towards Labour as a lesser of 2 evils in the forthcoming local elections
add to this mixture the dreaded Bird flu - echoing of the Foot & mouth disaster in 2000, and the strange SUDAN 1 food scare befor the 2004 general election and we start to see it is business as usual for the New Labour spin machine as this is all also very useful in distracting attention away from the increasingly disasterous bloodbaths in Afghanistan & Iraq...which is a vote loser of epic proportions

UK's Clarke orders raids over deportation row
[29/04/2006]
Home Secretary Charles Clarke, under pressure to resign over a row about foreign prisoners, ordered a series of raids across Britain to detain people who should have been considered for deportation. Clarke, a key ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair, has been under fire since revealing this week that 1,023 foreign nationals, including murderers and rapists, were released after serving their sentences in British prisons when they should have been considered for deportation. Clarke said at least five foreign prisoners freed from jail had committed new crimes including violent acts or drug offences. One had also faced allegations of rape but there was not enough evidence to prosecute. The admission was jumped on by his political rivals as yet more mismanagement in Blair's government. - times of malta.com

Glorified terror laws
muslimnews.co.uk Issue 204, Friday 28 April 2006 - 1 Rabi' al-Akhar 1427
The Muslim community is appealing to the Government to exercise maximum restraint and caution in the implementation of many of the draconian measures enacted by the Terrorism Act 2006 that came into force this month. The new legislation makes the "glorification" of terrorism a criminal offence and targets non-violent political groups for proscription. It also turns trespassing on nuclear sites into a 'terrorist' offence and makes it illegal to distribute 'terrorist' publications.
The latest powers were pressed through the House of Commons despite stiff opposition in the House of Lords and repeated warnings that the laws could further seriously damage the human rights record of Britain and contribute to the alienation of large numbers of people, particularly from the Muslim community.
"The fact that these laws are based upon a number of false premises and an unacceptably vague definition of terrorism makes them a recipe for disaster as well as a huge blow to our freedoms," Secretary General of Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, warned. The Government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, who is currently reviewing the definition of terrorism, also voiced concern about the whole raft of laws passed by Labour. "The problem with 2001 Act, which has been much debated, and Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, and the very recently enacted Terrorism Act 2006 is that they have been enacted rather hastily and one tends to legislate in haste and repent in leisure," the Lib Dem lawyer said. Concern about the new legislation followed another High Court ruling that found the system of Control Orders, targeted against Muslims, under the 2005 Act as being "incompatible" with human rights. The Control Orders were hastily introduced to replace the detention of terrorist suspects without trial or charge after being ruled illegal over a year ago.
The ramifications of the latest measures are potentially very serious and again risk further divisions in society and alienating whole communities. They are not only wrong and offensive but, along with the continuing disparaging and insensitive portrayal of Muslims, have contributed to the current climate, in which apparently up to 25 per cent of the population is considering voting for the British National Party (BNP) in May's local elections. The added danger is that Labour and the Conservatives may use the fears of the BNP to become more extreme right-wing themselves. As The Muslim News has previously warned against rendering the 1.8 million community a threat to the country and to society as a whole by making them liable to suspicion, censorship and persecution under ill-conceived laws.
As the human rights group Liberty has also warned the new powers given to the police not only make people in society less free and safe, but also risk driving dissent underground, while alienating minorities. It should also not be forgotten that the doubling to 28 days of pre-charge detentions, which already led to much abuse, is yet to be implemented.
In particular, the failure to stop the highly damaging and vague indictment of "glorifying" terrorism gives extra power for deporting and excluding people from the UK. There is deep-seated concern that the measures are aimed at suppressing any support for the Palestinians and others seeking to liberate their homeland, as well as other forms of political dissent. The fear is that it will stifle free speech and end up arresting the innocent by preventing legitimate debate.
In doing so, the Government has taken no heed of the Muslim police and security task force set up by the Home Office after July 7 bombings that warned the present anti-terror regime was already excessive in being directed against Muslims. The proposal to make "inciting, justifying or glorifying terrorism" a criminal offence could lead to fears of using "legitimate concepts and terminology" in supporting self-determination struggles around the world, it said. There are also fears that a proposed Foreign Office database of "foreign extremists" and a Home Office list of extremist websites, bookshops and organisations of concern, will lead to a clampdown that will be seen as "censorship of all those who might criticise British foreign policy or call for political unity among Muslims." The consensus of opinion is that virtually nothing productive will come with the recommendations of the task forces, set up after last July's bombings. The Muslim News has exclusively learned that Muslims in Leicester, are taking a lead to organising an independent national roadshow of Islamic scholars to rival the failure of the Government sponsored version that started last December. There are also questions about the way the national mosques advisory body is being handled and will lead to separate arrangement being made outside the influence of the Home Office.
Many have warned about the fallacies behind the so-called War on Terrorism, which has not only been used to invade and bomb Muslim countries like Iraq and soon Iran, but also to create draconian legislations to stifle legitimate support for the oppressed Muslims.
The response of excessive legislation is based on key erroneous assumptions that make it questionable whether such measures will actually either stop or increase the Government's ability to respond to a terrorist attack. This is sold as a security precaution at the expense of hard-fought basic rights. The very premise is based upon trying to deal only with the symptoms instead of with some of the causes and toning down foreign policies that leave the UK following the US in rampaging around the world searching for new fictional threats as a relic of the Cold War. It is like a misguided security strategy designed to protect leaders inside vast perimeters of protection instead of trying to cure the underlying problems by dealing with the world's grievances of inequality, injustices and lack of access to the democratic systems. Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has promised to consolidate all existing anti-terrorism laws into a single act of Parliament next year. The hope is that this includes many needed reforms and is carried out before the new "glorified" laws cause further major damage. -

Reid joins hospital campaign
Former Health Secretary Dr John Reid has made a fresh protest over proposed hospital cutbacks in his own constituency.
Dr Reid, who is now Defence Secretary, was among Labour MPs and MSPs who handed in a petition against plans which could downgrade Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Labour MPs Tom Clark and Rosemary McKenna, and MSPs Karen Whitefield, Elaine Smith, and Cathie Craigie were also there to hand in the 45,000 signature petition at the Hamilton headquarters of NHS Lanarkshire. - icscotland.icnetwork.co.uk

interesting picture that ran with this story!
Cannabis found at John Reid's house
(Filed: 29/04/2006) telegraph.co.u -
A small amount of cannabis resin has been found at the Scottish home of John Reid, the Defence Secretary. Police said they are to take no action over the discovery, made during a routine security sweep of the property. The amount was described as "minuscule", weighing less than one gram with a street value of 85p.
"I can confirm that we have investigated the discovery of a small piece of cannabis resin in a guest room of a house within the force area," John Corrigan, assistant chief constable of Strathclyde Police, said. "The owner of the house has co-operated fully with police and is not suspected of having committed any crime or offence."
Mr Reid said he had no idea where cannabis resin had come from, and sources close to the MP for Airdrie and Shotts said the drug could have been there for up to 20 years. "There is absolutely no suggestion that this in any way involves me or members of my family and both I and the Strathclyde Police regard the matter as closed," Mr Reid said.
The house is within Mr Reid's former constituency of Hamilton North and Bellsill in Lanarkshire, but the Defence Secretary was not in the property at the time the cannabis was found. Mr Reid is one of Labour's biggest ministerial heavyweights. He has held the posts of Health Secretary, Northern Ireland Secretary, Scottish Secretary and Leader of the House.
The discovery of the cannabis is thought to have been made several days ago, but was only made public today.

Prescott faces ruin over trysts at grace-and-favour homes
By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor (Filed: 30/04/2006) - Telegraph.co.uk
John Prescott was facing a deepening political storm last night over allegations that his mistress enjoyed perks and privileges at the taxpayer's expense. The Deputy Prime Minister was braced for damaging revelations from his former lover and diary secretary, Tracey Temple, about their two-year affair.
Concern has centred on the couple's secret trysts at Mr Prescott's grace-and-favour homes - Admiralty House, in London, and Dorneywood, Buckinghamshire - and whether he used his official car to ferry Miss Temple around.
Questions have been tabled in Parliament by Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs demanding to know whether she benefited from any of Mr Prescott's ministerial privileges during their affair.
Miss Temple has sold her story to a newspaper and is also thought to be armed with a diary full of details of her relationship with Mr Prescott, as well as potentially ruinous revelations about where their encounters took place. Miss Temple, 43, who is believed to be in hiding in the south of France, where her family have a villa, is said to have received up to £300,000 for her story after securing the services of the publicist, Max Clifford. Yesterday, Mr Clifford said Miss Temple was ignored when she asked for official help in dealing with revelations about the affair.
Her stepfather, John Amos, complained that, after a 20-year career in the Civil Service, Miss Temple had been "hung out to dry". Miss Temple has told friends that she believes her phone is bugged.
Mr Clifford told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "She had absolutely nothing to do with the story coming out, so then she went to the Cabinet Office and her colleagues for help and advice on how to handle the media, and got nothing, nothing at all.
"All they were interested in was looking after John Prescott. Meanwhile, day after day, she is reading stuff in the papers, a lot of which is totally untrue. Don't you think she's entitled to stand up for herself?"
Asked if she wanted to see Mr Prescott lose his job over the affair, Mr Clifford said: "No. She wants the truth out there. She wants people to judge her as she really is, as opposed to what they are reading, which is 10 per cent reality and 90 per cent rubbish.
"It's difficult to describe what it's like when suddenly masses of photographers and journalists turn up on your doorstep and day after day you are reading a lot of things in the national press which are totally untrue about you, which is very damaging and very hurtful."
The Government denied that it had refused to help Miss Temple. A spokesman said: "The Cabinet Office and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have been in frequent and regular contact with Tracey, providing her with support as a responsible employer."
The spokesman refused to say whether she faced dismissal for selling her story. As a civil servant, Miss Temple is forbidden by strict rules from profiting from her job.
A Government insider confirmed that the interview would be scoured for any breach of the code which states that civil servants "should not misuse their official position or information acquired in the course of their official duties to further their private interests or those of others".
An official said: "We want to see what she says before we will have any idea about what we are going to do."
Labour was further embarrassed yesterday when it emerged that a newsletter featuring Mr Prescott and his wife, Pauline, posing in a picture of marital harmony under the headline "Home pride" was delivered in his Hull East constituency as news of his affair broke. However, Mrs Prescott told friends this weekend that she had forgiven him for the affair, blaming it on the strains of Westminster life.
Labour MPs may not be so forgiving. Evidence that Mr Prescott has abused his position could see remaining support for him evaporate. While Dorneywood is run by a charitable trust, Admiralty House is funded by the taxpayer. A written parliamentary reply from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister last year revealed that the total cost of maintaining and renovating the building in 2004-05 was £246,284. The estimated figure for 2005-06 is £269,126.
Pictures of Mr Prescott, 67, cavorting with Miss Temple in his government office have added to the sense of unease among Labour MPs. He faces an investigation by Sir John Bourn, who will look into whether he abused his position. Derek Conway, the Tory MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup who has tabled questions on the issue, has claimed that it was an abuse of power for Mr Prescott to conduct an affair with a civil servant subordinate to him.
The Ministerial Code says ministers must "not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code". This states that a civil servant should not behave in a way that is "improper or unethical".
Constituents arriving at Mr Prescott's monthly surgery, at the East Hull Labour Party offices yesterday, said that they had been told he was not coming. At the Prescott family home nearby, several bouquets of flowers arrived for Mrs Prescott, along with deliveries of a new carpet and bathroom furniture.

'No excuses' over prison debacle
April 29th 2006 - BBC NEWS
There are "no excuses" for the release of hundreds of foreign prisoners at the end of their sentences without being deported, the prime minister has said.
Mr Blair was quoted by the News of the World [Prop. R. MURDOCH] as saying Charles Clarke's future as home secretary "depends on what happens" with those released.
But Downing Street later insisted he remained "supportive" of Mr Clarke.
Mr Clarke faces increased pressure to quit after revealing five immigrants released from prison had re-offended.
A Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister was "totally supportive of the home secretary in resolving the problems that he has been addressing over the last few days."
Police officers are undertaking raids to detain some higher risk offenders.
In an interview with the Sunday newspaper, Mr Blair said he had not accepted Mr Clarke's offer to resign because his home secretary had made efforts to rectify the situation. But he said he was "not going to speculate" on whether Mr Clarke would be out of a job if a serious crime was committed by one of those released. "It depends on what happens, what the reasons are," he added.
The prime minister's interview comes after the home secretary said that five of those released had re-offended and had been convicted for offences relating to drugs, violent disorder and inflicting bodily harm.
Two have also faced rape claims, with one case dropped because of lack of evidence.
Mr Blair said he had been "pretty angry" when he was first told about the releases. "But it was important to get to the facts and see what people had been trying to do," he said. "I make no excuses for what happened, it was wrong and shouldn't have happened.

FOREIGN PRISONERS

1,023 freed without being considered for deportation
79 of them originally jailed for more serious crimes, including 13 of them for murder, manslaughter, rape or child sex offences
Five of them known to have committed offences since release - including violent disorder, drug crimes and grievous and actual bodily harm Deportation action now started for 63 of the 79 more serious criminals
Officials have decided nine of the offenders should not be deported

"The reason the problem was uncovered was because people started to make changes. We had no knowledge until we started to work through the system about whether foreign prisoners were being deported."
There was "no excuse" for the government not to have sorted the problem but it was "a systematic failure that goes back years", Mr Blair added. It was fair to ask at what point a politician became responsible, Mr Blair said. "But he has been acting on it," he added. "That's where I disagree with people who say he's ignored it - he hasn't."
On Saturday, the Home Office said more than 200 police and immigration officers were taking part in raids across the UK, to track down 63 high-risk foreign offenders, following initial raids overnight on Friday night.
They are among the 1,023 prisoners released into the community without being considered for deportation over the past seven years - 79 of whom had been in jail for serious offences. Mr Clarke has dismissed calls from opposition MPs for him to quit.

local elections psyops continue part 1

Labour "sleazy and incompetent" - poll
Sunday April 30, 12:28 AM LONDON (Reuters) - uk.news.yahoo.com
Prime Minister Tony Blair, struggling to overcome two major ministerial scandals, suffered a fresh blow on Sunday when a poll showed most people think Labour is "sleazy and incompetent".
The poll for the Sunday Times, which also shows a slide in his personal ratings to a historic low, comes just five days before local elections that are seen as a test of how long Blair can cling on to power. Blair has said he will not stand for a fourth term at the next election, expected in 2009, but it is unclear when he will step aside. Chancellor Gordon Brown is his most likely successor.
The poll comes as two of Blair's closest cabinet allies are in deep trouble.
Opposition parties and the media have called on Home Secretary Charles Clarke to resign after he acknowledged 1,023 foreign prisoners, including murderers and rapists, had been freed when they should have been considered for deportation. His position deteriorated on Friday when he said five of those released had committed new crimes. Blair seemed to give only qualified support to Clarke in an interview with the News of the World. He said he did not want to speculate and that Clarke's future "depends on what happens". But Blair's office insisted the prime minister "strongly supports" Clarke, who has vowed to stay to sort out the mess.
POLL DIP
The YouGov poll showed 57 percent of respondents said Blair's government was "sleazy and incompetent". His personal ratings also slipped to their lowest level since taking over as Labour leader 12 years ago, with 64 percent of those surveyed saying he was doing badly.
To compound Blair's problems, the Mail on Sunday printed lurid details of an affair Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has admitted to having with one of his secretaries. With his image undermined by humiliating revelations, many commentators say his position in government looks precarious. Prescott, a key cabinet member due to his links with the left of the party, is vulnerable as he was scathing of scandals committed by Conservatives when they were in power. He once said that morality for the Conservatives meant not getting caught.
But Blair's office said Prescott's affair was a private matter and the prime minister had full confidence in his deputy.
Blair himself is embroiled in a "cash for favours" row despite pledging to be "whiter than white" when Labour took power in 1997. A poor performance for Labour in Thursday's local elections could increase the pressure on him to stand down sooner rather than later, analysts say.

Bragg: Labour to blame for rise of BNP
Thursday April 27, Yahoo News UK
Singer and anti-fascism campaigner Billy Bragg has warned Labour that by failing to focus on the working classes it is creating political space for the BNP. In an interview with ePolitix.com, Bragg said he thought that ordinary working people were no longer being represented by Labour.
Ministers and the party should now "look away from middle England" and go back to their traditional roots, he argued. Bragg stressed that unless Labour recognises the "phenomena of the working poor", voters will continue to look to the BNP as the "nuclear button" to press when they want to register a protest.
The singer is currently undertaking a UK-wide tour, supported by a coalition of trade unions and anti-fascist groups, under the 'Hope not Hate' banner. He is attempting to raise awareness and stop the BNP gaining council seats in areas across the country.
Recent polls have suggested the BNP could see its support rise in next week's local elections, and employment minister Margaret Hodge has warned that voters in her Barking constituency are turning to the far-right.
But Bragg, whose home town is Barking, said problems in the area were "not about race, what is happening in Barking is about resources". He added that "if you want to really annoy the local Labour council and get them to sort shit out then the nuclear button to press would be to vote in a BNP council".
Pointing to a range of economic and social problems in Barking, as well as exclusion from the political process, he said voters in the area are "very frustrated". "Barking is no more racist and no less multicultural than any other London borough," Bragg told ePolitix.com
But he said that demographic changes had left the BNP thinking that they can make progress in the area. Bragg warned that "if they can get a toe hold there then there is a whole arc from Walthamstow in the north down to Streatham where they think they might be able to edge their way in".
"So it is crucial that we defeat them in Barking."

He also took a swipe at Hodge's role in local politics and her failure to address the concerns of local voters. "When Margaret Hodge became the MP, they thought that they would have a representative who had Blair's ear and their loyalty would continue to be rewarded but unfortunately it hasn't been," Bragg said.
"The people of Barking have been very, very frustrated and they are striking out in a very negative way.
"The Labour Party and the policies of the Labour government bear considerable responsibility for that.
"I don't think voting for the BNP is going to help the ordinary working people of Barking at all but I would argue that this is about resources and not race."
Bragg also said their involvement in the campaign shows there is a role for trade unions outside of the workplace.
"They are not just about their members but about their members' families and the communities where their members live and work, and I think that is a more important issue for the unions than perhaps for the mainstream political parties," he said.
"It was the unions which got us the minimum wage, it was the unions which got us the weekend and it was the unions which founded the Labour Party."
But speaking at the first event of Bragg's tour in Wolverhampton, local Labour MP and government whip Tom Watson told ePolitix.com: "I think you could try and blame Tony Blair for a number of things but the rise of fascism isn't one of them."
"The challenge for local Labour parties is to spread the message of the positive work Labour is doing throughout the community," he added.

Australian ABC News had a reporter in Barking also:

Blair Govt worried by voter swing to British National Party
AM - Saturday, 29 April , 2006 08:16:00 Reporter: Rafael Epstein
listen to the report on realplayer
ELIZABETH JACKSON: In Britain, a Senior Government Minister is warning that half of the voters in East London are considering voting for the extreme right wing British National Party.
The Blair Government, enmeshed in several ongoing scandals of its own, is worried by newspaper polls showing growing support for the extremist party fielding more local candidates than ever before in council elections next week.
Our Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein went to an area in East London which has been specifically targetted by the British National Party, and he prepared this report.
RICHARD BARNBROOK: (On the street) Are you voting this time round?
VOX POP 1: Who are you?
RICHARD BARNBROOK: British National Party.
VOX POP 1: Yes! (Laughs)
RICHARD BARNBROOK: That's right (laughs).
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Richard Barnbrook is out looking for votes.
At the last national election one in six voters backed the BNP here in Barking, East London. Their leaflets blame Labor's immigration policies for everything from the London bombings to a rise in the incidence of HIV.
But Richard Barnbrook says the BNP is not racist.
RICHARD BARNBROOK: We do believe in putting, or keeping the identity of the indigenous people of the nation safe - their history, their heritage and their views, so you may call us racial nationalists.
We're concerned about our own people, not having to walk around with their heads in their hands wondering where they are, who they are, and what they belong to.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: The One Nation Party in Australia was seen as responding to the people who felt neglected and deserted by the major parties. Is that what the BNP is trying to do? Is that how it's trying to portray itself?
RICHARD BARNBROOK: If the other parties had correctly done their job, the British National Party would not need to exist.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: The ethnic make-up of this area has changed rapidly, when just a decade ago it was more than 90 per cent white.
There are consistent reports that immigrants receive massive housing subsides. Just one immigrant family received such a subsidy in the last financial year.
A recent newspaper survey of 500 people here showed nearly half are considering voting for the BNP and such voters are found within minutes at the local shopping centre.
VOX POP 2: It was meant to be like a white place, but it's just full of black people, Asian people...
VOX POP 3: There's too many of them!
VOX POP 2: The BNP, they're trying to get immigrants out, which is sort of good because they're taking all the houses round here.
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Would you consider voting for them?
VOX POP 4: Definitely, because I've lived round here all my life and it's just so down hill now, and it's like, they're getting everything and we don't get a thing. It's just not fair.
VOX POP 5: I wouldn't vote for them because I'll be next on the list, after they've done all the blacks.
VOX POP 6: The racist one, yeah. They're stupid, crazy and it's unfair. It's not fair. I mean, it's just not possible for them to like, try to get rid of all the other coloured people in this country, know what I'm saying?
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: British political history over the decades is littered with quasi-fascist and racist parties that have flared briefly and then petered out. However, Labor is worried.
They're currently besieged by a storm of controversy around several Cabinet ministers and on a local level they're coming off a low base, their lowest presence in local government since 1978.
In Barking East London this is Rafael Epstein reporting for Saturday AM.

UK: Arson attack on takeaway was racist
[26.04.06 20:40] - Police have arrested a man over an arson attack on an Indian takeaway which officers believe was racially motivated.
The attack happened at a takeaway in south Wales.
The shop and an adjoining house were damaged in the fire.
South Wales Police said an attempt was also made to assault the shop owner. A force spokesman confirmed it was being treated as a racially-motivated attack.
A man is currently in custody over the incident.
Source: BBC News via Utrop portal

Arson arrests made at U.K. gay pub
Gay.com U.K. published Thursday, April 27, 2006
Two men have been charged in connection with an arson blaze early Wednesday at a gay pub in the English city of Bolton, the Bolton Evening News reported.
Firefighters were called at 3 a.m. to the Star and Garter pub in the Manchester-area town after a police officer patrolling the town center saw the front door on fire.
Crews managed to put out the fire before it reached the rest of the pub.
Landlady Christine Riley told the Evening News, "We're a gay-friendly pub, so it could have been a homophobic attack." She and a staff member were asleep and didn't wake until the firefighters broke in. Riley, who has managed the pub for nine years, said she was "still in shock". "I don't want to think what could have happened if someone hadn't been walking past and called the fire brigade," Riley said. "There's some smoke damage but we're determined to open for business tonight as usual."
Glennon Dickinson, 32, and Darren Wilson, 23, both of Bolton, were arrested Wednesday near the scene, the Evening News reported. Both suspects appeared before magistrates Thursday and were charged with arson with intent to endanger life.

tensions rising? or being made to rise?

Search for racist serial firebomber

Apr 30 2006 - icealing.icnetwork.co.uk
Detectives are hunting a racist firebomber believed to be behind attacks on stores which left one man dead.
The suspect has been linked to three separate attacks on stores run by Asians in south London over the past three weeks, including one in Clapham Road, Kennington, on Thursday which claimed the life of Khizar Hayat.
Mr Hayat was burnt to death when he was trapped in the convenience store following the attack in broad daylight.

Detective Superintendent Dick Heselden of the Metropolitan Police said: "In the absence of any other possible motive, I'm working on the basis that these are racially motivated attacks." He added: "We must catch him before he commits another arson attack in which someone else may be killed."
Mr Heselden said they began looking for linked incidents immediately after the attack in Kennington, where a thick-set black man threw a Molotov cocktail style device into a Costcutter shop on Clapham Road.
Police witnessed the incident from a police station a short distance away and gave chase but lost the suspect.
Mr Heselden said they had now identified two other attacks thought to be linked.
The first took place at a newsagents in Tulse Hill on April 14 when a bottle filled with accelerant was thrown into the premises and struck the legs of a customer, who suffered burns. No-one else was injured.
The second incident took place at an off-licence on Portland Road in South Norwood on April 20, where again a lit bottle filled with petrol was thrown into the premises, but those inside managed to get out in time.
In all three attacks, the method had been almost identical and the description of the suspect had matched, according to Mr Heselden. He is described as black and barrel-chested, aged in his mid-30s and between 5ft 5ins and 5ft 8ins tall. He has a large, wide head and close cropped or shaved hair.

will Massive vote fraud gaurauntee local elections
will be used to secure need for ID cards...?

Local elections are 'wide open to vote-rigging'
By David Harrison(Filed: 30/04/2006) telegraph.co.uk
The local elections this week are "wide open" to fraud because the Government has failed to close loopholes, senior election officials and opposition MPs said yesterday. But, as police continued their investigations into alleged vote-rigging in London and Birmingham, the Government rejected widespread calls for ID checks on all voters.
The Association of Electoral Administrators, which represents election officers throughout the country, called for all electors to be required to give their signature and date of birth when they registered to vote. The details would then be checked against applications for postal votes and could also be used to check any individuals who aroused election officers' suspicions at polling booths.
But yesterday the Government rejected the calls to make all voters provide proof of identity to get their ballot papers. Bridget Prentice, the Electoral Administration Minister, said compulsory checks could deter people from registering to vote and reduce election turn-outs. Mrs Prentice said that the fraud problem - which is being investigated in seven London boroughs and one area of Birmingham - mostly concerned postal voting and the Government was addressing that issue.
Ministers had put down an amendment to the Electoral Administration Bill, currently going through Parliament, to make checks compulsory for postal voters only. "We are taking steps to ensure that procedures are as secure as possible," she said.
But Malcolm Dumper, policy director of the Association of Electoral Administrators, said the Government had not done enough. "The local elections are wide open to fraud and the loopholes need to be closed," he said. "We want to see the individual signatures and dates of birth of every elector given at the time of registration."
Oliver Heald, the shadow constitutional affairs minister, said that the rest of the UK should follow Northern Ireland and force people to register individually to vote, with proof of identity. "Ministers are dragging their feet as if it just doesn't matter," he said.
The Electoral Reform Society said that requiring people to sign for ballot papers "would go a long way towards stamping out fraud."
Police are investigating alleged voting fraud in the London boroughs of Barnet, Harrow, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Southwark and Tower Hamlets, and in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham.
In Tower Hamlets, for example, people in entire streets and tower blocks appear to have had their votes "stolen" in an attempt to fix the vote.
Voters go to the polls in 176 local authorities, including the 32 London boroughs, on Thursday.

Rebels plot secret plan to axe Blair
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR - scotland on sunday
LABOUR rebels have drawn up a detailed blueprint for deposing Tony Blair if the party suffers electoral meltdown at this week's English local elections.
At least 40 dissident Labour MPs have signed up to a "ditch Blair" strategy which would involve an ultimatum to the beleaguered Prime Minister to name a departure date or face a leadership challenge. The plot will be triggered if Labour loses 350 or more council seats on Thursday and its share of the vote dips to a third or less in key areas.
Blair, who is reeling from a series of crises surrounding his most senior Cabinet allies, would then be told by rebels to publicly set a date - no later than next summer - when he will step down as Labour leader. If he refuses, disaffected Labour MPs believe they have enough support to force a leadership vote at the party conference in September.
The determined bid to oust Blair comes as he faces one of the most difficult periods of his political career, with two of his most loyal Cabinet allies embroiled in desperate struggles to save their jobs.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, whose affair with his diary secretary was revealed last week, was enduring a fraught weekend after his diary secretary, who has employed the publicist Max Clifford, revealed the full story of their two-year affair.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke is leading frantic attempts to find hundreds of foreign criminals who were released when they should have been deported. One is accused of committing a rape after his release, in an incident thought to have taken place after ministers were told about the scandal last summer.
Yesterday, one Human Rights lawyer claimed any victims of crimes committed by the released foreigners could sue the Home Office for tens of thousands of pounds. In an interview published today, Blair leaves open the possibility of sacking Clarke, saying his future "depends on what happens".
Last night, a 40-year-old mother who was raped at knifepoint by a foreign criminal freed from jail called on Clarke to resign. The 31-year-old Somali had served a three-year term for robbery, but immigration officials failed to deport him, a newspaper claimed. His victim said: "It is something that will always be there. Clarke must go."
Two polls today offer further bad news for the government. A BBC survey for The Politics Show found only a third of the nation is satisfied with the way the government is running the country. A separate YouGov poll found that 57% of the public believe Labour to be "sleazy and incompetent".
Scotland on Sunday understands left-wing Labour MPs have already passed around a draft letter setting out their proposals for gathering enough support to trigger a leadership election. Under party rules, they would need to sign up 20% of the PLP, or 71 MPs, to force a leadership vote at party conference.
A senior MP last night said the rebels, already up to 40 in number, would act if Labour did so badly in the council elections that the party suffered a net loss of around 350 council seats, and its share of the vote dipped to a third in "significant" areas, notably London, south-east England and parts of the English Midlands.
"We would prefer not to do something like this, but if the election results are as bad as feared, someone has to act," the MP said. Asked if the plotters intended to effectively give the Prime Minister 18 months to move out of Downing Street, he added: "Yes, in a way. We would prefer not to have the disruption of a leadership contest, but we think it is necessary to change the direction of the government. "So it would really be up to the Prime Minister to tell us when he plans to go, so we can prepare for an orderly transition."
Senior rebel MPs are frustrated with the failure of Gordon Brown, the most likely alternative leader, to challenge Blair for the leadership. "They have basically given up hope of Gordon ever making a move," one said.
The draft letter in circulation mentions the recent Education Bill, which only passed through the House of Commons with Tory support after a huge Labour rebellion. Organisers believe the draft letter, described as "like a leaflet laying out our intentions", would form the basis of a letter or petition if Labour's fortunes hit rock bottom on Thursday.
Government whips are believed to be aware of the momentum towards some form of challenge, although one last night claimed it was "a predictable response from people who have never been in line with the leadership". Government sources last night confirmed ministers had been alerted to a possible reshuffle in the days after the elections. Blair is under pressure to split Clarke's department, hiving off functions including domestic security to a separate "Homeland Security" agency.
Hewitt and the Blairite Education Secretary Ruth Kelly are believed to be facing moves to less taxing Cabinet posts, to be replaced by Trade Secretary Alan Johnson and John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Police warn Asian Businesses to mistrust Black Men?

Shopkeepers warned in arson probe
Police hunting a racist firebomber have warned shopkeepers to plan an escape route should they come under attack.
Khizar Hayat, 40, died and three others were injured when Pricecutter, near the Oval in south London, was targeted, trapping staff inside. Detectives think the same attacker was responsible for two other blazes at Asian-owned businesses.
Shop owners have been urged to make sure staff know the quickest way to get out of their premises in an emergency. "They must ensure at all times that the means of escape are available, unblocked and people can get through them," he said.
Police are linking the suspect with fires at a Tulse Hill newsagent on 14 April and a South Norwood corner shop on 20 April.
Det Supt Heselden said: "It's my opinion that we're dealing with a serial firebomber who is targeting small Asian businesses. "We must catch him before he commits another arson attack in which someone else may be killed."
The suspect is described as a black man, barrel-chested with a shaved head, aged 30 to 35, about 5ft 10in tall with a strong jaw line and rough skin.
A second man, who was trapped along with Mr Hayat, is critically ill in hospital. Two others who ran through the flames suffered minor burns. BBC

man arrested

Man arrested over arson attacks
May 2nd 2006 - bbc.co.uk - A man has been arrested by detectives investigating three shop fires - one of them fatal - which are thought to have been racially motivated. The 33-year-old man from Stockwell, south London, is being questioned by detectives about the murder of Khizar Hayat and the other fires.
Mr Hayat died on 27 April in a Pricecutter shop near the Oval, after a man threw a firebomb into the store. Two of his colleagues escaped with minor burns, a third is critically ill. Police had warned Asian-owned businesses in the area to ensure they had an escape route planned following speculation the attacks could be racially-motivated.
A bottle filled with accelerant was thrown into a newsagent's in Tulse Hill, south London, at lunchtime on 14 April and hit a customer's legs causing burns, but no-one else was injured. Six days later another bottle, filled with petrol and set alight, was thrown into an off-licence in South Norwood.
Man chased
Last Thursday's attack took place in the middle of the afternoon, on a busy street within sight of Lambeth Police headquarters.
A man was seen throwing a lighted object into the Pricecutter shop before running off. He was chased by police who lost him in nearby Handforth Road.
Four members of staff at the Pricecutter store were trapped inside as the building was engulfed in flames. Two decided to run through the fire into the street and escaped with minor burns.
Mr Hayat, 40, and a colleague headed to the back of the shop. He was later found dead and his co-worker is critically ill in hospital.

Blair continues to 'sweat: please vote for us!'

Blair seeks to refocus campaign
BBC 2nd May 2006 - Tony Blair is seeking to repair the damage done to Labour's local election prospects by the scandals engulfing John Prescott and the home secretary. The prime minister has urged supporters in the North West of England to think about the government's achievements - and not the last few days' headlines.
Charles Clarke is due to update him on efforts to track down foreign prisoners who were released without deportation. David Cameron has demanded the home secretary make a statement to MPs.
'Say goodbye'
Both the home secretary and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who has admitted having an affair with his diary secretary, are resisting pressure to resign. Mr Prescott is meeting the prime minister on Monday afternoon but Downing Street says the talks are only "routine".
With the two ministers' actions crowding out any positive message Labour had hoped to get across before Thursday's local elections in England, Mr Blair is trying to steer the campaign back on course.
On the ninth anniversary of becoming prime minister, he acknowledged that the government has been going through a difficult period but has urged people to look at the "bigger picture" before they vote on Thursday. Speaking to the retail workers' union Usdaw in Blackpool, Mr Blair said people should remember the party's achievements on the economy, schools, hospitals, for pensioners and children and in anti-social laws. "It has been difficult, but nine days' headlines should not obscure nine years of achievements," he said.
He also thanked supporters for sticking with Labour when times had been tough, saying it was something the government should never forget "because it is the right way for colleagues and partners to behave".
Mr Clarke is facing demands from the Conservatives to make an urgent statement to the Commons about progress in tracing those 1,023 foreign prisoners who were released without being considered for deportation.
Mr Cameron urged Mr Blair to carry out a Cabinet reshuffle and "say goodbye" to Mr Clarke.
Progress report
"We need the home secretary to provide reassurance and he can't do that unless he provides a full Commons statement," the Conservative leader told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said that while it was obvious Mr Clarke "has to go", the Tories are calling for the creation of a minister for security and terrorism, which would leave the Home Office to "get to grips with" immigration.
The Home Office has resisted making a statement on progress at the moment, arguing that Mr Clarke would come back to Parliament with a progress report by the end of the week. It has emerged that Mr Clarke took three weeks to tell the prime minister the criminals, including murderers, had been freed. The Home Office said Mr Blair was briefed when officials were in a position to give him full details.
The mistakes occurred over the past seven years, but 288 immigrants were released after Mr Clarke knew of the problem.
'Reshuffle needed'
Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle said it was clear Mr Clarke should resign. "I would say now I think he ought to reconsider his position - I think politicians ought to be responsible for their actions," he told BBC Five Live.
Following a weekend of further revelations about Mr Prescott's affair with his secretary, Mr Cameron commented that while it was "a private matter, clearly he looks a fool". "I think if he has broken the ministerial code and if he has abused his office in that way it should be looked at," he told Today.
Mr Cameron said Mr Prescott had tried to force regionalisation on communities who did not want it and had bulldozed homes in the north of England, while concreting over the south. "He has a pretty woeful record," he added.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said Labour was clearly "on the ropes" and was "failing nationally and locally". "It is now inevitable than many voters will use Thursday's poll as a referendum on the prime minister," he said.

Police presence at voting stations?

Police to act on vote fraud fears
news.bbc.co.uk 2nd May 2006 - Police officers could keep watch at polling stations in the West Midlands amid fears about vote rigging. West Midlands Police say they are considering the move after requests from the leader of Birmingham City Council, Mike Whitby.
Wards with the highest proportion of postal vote applications would be targeted, including Bordesley Green, Lozells and East Handsworth. It follows two arrests and police inquiries into alleged vote fraud.
Councillors' demand
Mr Whitby said a police presence would ensure the city's elections were "free, fair and clear of any illegal or corrupt practices". In 2004, the city's local elections were marred by scandals when evidence of postal vote abuse was discovered. Mr Whitby has written to West Midlands Chief Constable Paul Scott-Lee after a meeting between Conservative and Labour councillors and police on Friday.
The Liberal Democrat group did not attend the meeting.
Mr Whitby said in his letter: "Given that postal vote applications were highest in the Bordesley Green, Lozells and East Handsworth, Nechells, Springfield and Sparkbrook wards we would urge you to stand guard on each of the polling stations in these wards."
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said the force was monitoring the situation closely. He said police would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to place officers at polling stations. "Everything reasonably possible" would be done to bring to justice those who committed election fraud, said Mr Hyde in a statement.

Bairs Police state ambitions demand reform

Victim's mother enters Clarke row
Monday, 1 May 2006 - BBC
A woman whose son was murdered by a Jamaican drug dealer has called on Home Secretary Charles Clarke to resign. Donovan Gayle was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in Lozells, Birmingham, in April 2005 by Mark Wright, 24, who had been convicted of drug dealing. Mr Gayle's mother Dorothy said her son's killer should have been deported because he had served time in prison.
The Home Office said it was investigating the case to see if Wright was recommended for deportation.
Mrs Gayle said Mr Clarke should resign after 1,023 foreign criminals were released without being deported. "If he had done that crime, why was he still in the country? Maybe if he sent him away then maybe my son would be alive," said Ms Gayle.
Wright was jailed for life in November 2005 for Mr Donovan's murder and was told he would serve at least 18 years in jail.
Ms Gayle said: "He (Charles Clarke) should resign. Somebody should have to take the blame. The blame has to stop somewhere."
Mr Clarke has faced mounting pressure from opposition parties who have called for his resignation after it was revealed foreign criminals who had been recommended for deportation had remained in the UK after serving their sentences.

The Junta of cronies need this to get continue Blairs Police state ambitions

Beshenivsky suspect not deported
BBC Tuesday, 2 May 2006
A man suspected over the slaying of policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky was considered for deportation just months before the mother-of-three was shot. But the decision was taken not to send Mustaf Jamma back to war-torn Somalia because of the dangers he faced there.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the case raised more questions in the row over foreign convicts' deportation.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke is due to update MPs on efforts to trace inmates who were freed and not deported.
How many?
Mr Davis said the fact that Mustaf Jamma is not one of those 1,023 people released from prison without deportation being considered just raised more questions.
"How safe are those decisions? How many of these people have been convicted of further crimes? How many are being investigated with respect to brutal crimes like the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky?" he asked. "Has the home secretary been monitoring this problem, since it clearly exposes another group of potential offenders who could put the public at risk?"
Local government minister David Miliband said between 3,000 and 3,500 people have been deported, and the government has not been able to deport about 2,000. "I think that's not because of some sort of sqeamishness on the government's part, but we're dealing with countries which sometimes don't have governments or governments which simply won't co-operate with us in the deportation," he told BBC's Newsnight.
Mr Miliband went on to reject claims that this latest twist in the foreign prisoners story made it harder for Mr Clarke to remain in his job. "He's not going to run away from difficult problems; he's actually going to try and sort them out."
Committee probe
Mr Clarke is due in the Commons on Wednesday, shortly after Tony Blair's last Prime Minister's Questions before Thursday's local elections, to make a statement on the tracking of those criminals who were released and not deported.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "This latest revelation underlines the invidious position the prime minister has put Charles Clarke in by refusing to accept his resignation.
"As long as Charles Clarke is prevented from assuming political responsibility for this chaotic state of affairs, he will continue to be buffeted by one allegation after another."
In a separate development on Tuesday, the Commons home affairs select committee said it would expand a current inquiry to include the foreign criminals debacle.
Mr Clarke and some of his Home Office officials will be called to give evidence later in the month.
The Press Association also reported that it had seen a 90-page circular setting out a strict timetable for considering foreign prisoner deportations sent on 31 March 2005 - meaning the Home Office was releasing prisoners for a year while those rules were in force.
Nine years
The document, Prison Service Order 6000, describes a fail-safe system to deal with cases of foreign prisoners that had slipped through the net, with prisons told to identify whether inmates were liable to deportation as soon as they arrived at the jail.
Last week Mr Clarke said that 1,023 foreign criminals were freed without proper deportation consideration owing to a "failure in the system".
On Friday the home secretary said of the 79 most serious offenders - which included murderers and sex offenders, five had been convicted of more crimes since their release, and there had also been two allegations of rape.
Mr Blair meanwhile has urged voters to judge Labour on nine years in power not on the rows of the past few days involving Mr Clarke and John Prescott who had an affair with a secretary.
Responding to the home secretary's remarks that he should stay in his job to sort the problems out, Tory leader David Cameron said Mr Clarke had the chance to sort out the foreign prisoners issue nine months ago.
PC Beshenivsky, 38, was shot dead last November as she and a colleague, PC Teresa Milburn who was also injured, went to investigate reports of an armed robbery at a Bradford travel agents.

Flashback to Beshenivsky shooting

Rookie cop Beshenivsky shot dead

Billy carries flowers for his Daughter

Cops & Robbers
WPC Beshenivsky, 38, a student officer who was married with three children and two stepchildren, was fatally shot in the chest when the robbers burst out of the travel agent's as she approached the premises on Friday afternoon. Her colleague, WPC Teresa Milburn, was shot in the shoulder but was released from hospital on Sunday. Mrs Beshenivsky had only completed her police constable training in February. Media play up the shootists as firing like cowboys...
Police sent to respond to this incident were unprepared...Why?
Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan told reporters that the officers drove to the Universal Express travel agency, literally minutes from the local cop-shop - after an alarm was triggered during the robbery.
Reports from Bradford say that the Travel agency arranges 'hawala' or money transactions besides tours to Pakistan and Makkah, and usually large amounts are deposited after Friday prayers for onward transmission to the Indian subcontinent. The term Hawala is just slang for wiring money. It is not necessarily illegal...
Why didn't the Police know about these large transactions? if there is an automated alarm linked to the cops from the premises, what kind of liason was there when it was installed?
Shouldn't more be done to secure 'Hawala'? Isn't that what the authorities really want? surveillance of all your assets...
New Big brother car surveillance systems were hailed but Police still look for a silver Toyota Rav 4, reg WP05 YTT, & yet no one questions how surveillance actually stops crime happening - Automated alarms cannot inform the authorities of the type of crime commited...
Predictably - 'activist group' Protect the Protectors calls for the arming of all UK police & Sir John Stevens calls for the Death Penalty
MORE
Media show:

massive security surrounded a convoy carrying 6 suspects from London...only 3 days later ALL were released on Bail

Local elections

Blair's bloody nose
Voters punish Labour in local elections as Tories make gains. PM to reshuffle Cabinet today in bid to reassert his authority
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor Published: 05 May 2006 - independent.co.uk
Tony Blair's hopes of hanging on to power received a setback today as Labour suffered losses in the local authority elections.
Mr Blair will carry out a swift Cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to show that his Government has not run out of steam after a disappointing performance by Labour in the council elections in England held yesterday.
At 2am, the Tories claimed they were on course to win 40 per cent of the votes, putting them on track for winning the next general election. Labour lost control in Derby, Bury, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent and Warrington, and the Tories gained Crawley, Bassetlaw, Chorley, Hastings and Coventry.
Labour was braced for a drubbing in the key battleground of London. The Tories claimed victory in Hammersmith and Fulham, a flagship Labour authority, for the first time since 1968, and Croydon. After results from about half the 176 authorities where elections were held, the Tories had 111 more councillors, while Labour had lost 97 and the Liberal Democrats were down two.
Eric Pickles, the Tories' deputy chairman, said: "We are having a better night than anyone predicted. Labour are approaching their worst scenario: losing councils in their very heartlands. We are the main beneficiary."
But Labour and the Liberal Democrats claimed the Tories were making no progress in the major northern cities, saying they needed to do so to show that they were an alternative government.
The British National Party was on course to win a record number of councillors after taking seats in Stoke-on-Trent, Epping Forest, Sandwell, Pendle and Redditch.
Cabinet ministers apologised to Labour councillors who had lost their seats, admitting that their record locally had been overshadowed by the turmoil in the Government over the release of foreign prisoners, NHS job cuts and the revelation that John Prescott had a two-year affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.
The Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, who headed Labour's campaign in London, told Sky News: "The headlines of the last two weeks have created a great problem for us and created a noise which has made it very difficult for the message of our local candidates to get through. I am very sorry if local activists feel that they have been let down."
Mr Blair will try to go on the offensive by freshening up his senior ministerial team and dismissing calls by allies of Gordon Brown for him to announce his departure timetable from Downing Street. He will also shrug off demands by left-wing MPs for him to "go now". His critics may draw up a round-robin letter urging him to quit.
Nick Brown, a close ally of Mr Brown and Labour's former chief whip, cast doubt on Mr Blair's ability to restore the party's fortunes. "We can't drift on," he said. "We have got to listen to people. People who supported us in 1997, who were enthusiastic about us, are not voting for us and are very unhappy," he said.
The reshuffle was originally planned for Monday, but last night ministers were put on standby for a shake-up today. No 10 fears that another weekend of bad headlines could further undermine the Prime Minister's authority. The Tories said such an early reshuffle would smack of "panic."
Under Mr Blair's fightback strategy, Mr Prescott is due to give a live BBC television interview on Sunday in his first public response to the revelation that he had a two-year affair with Ms Temple. He is expected to accept his share of the blame for Labour's poor election results.
Mr Blair will then try to switch the focus on to policy by holding his monthly press conference on Monday only two weeks after his last one.
Although Mr Blair's critics claimed the poor council results proved he is an electoral liability, one loyalist minister said last night: "He still has a lot of fire in his belly and he will show that. There is a lot more he wants to achieve."
Reports from grassroots Labour activists to party headquarters said the Prescott affair had provoked a backlash among women voters. They said the release of the prisoners without being considered for deportation had scuppered the party's attempt to campaign on being "tough" on anti-social behaviour.
Allies said Mr Blair wants Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, and Mr Prescott to remain in their posts, but some Labour MPs are pressing for some or all of the three ministers to be moved.
Cabinet ministers tipped for promotion include John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary; Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary; Alan Johnson, the Trade and Industry Secretary and David Miliband, the Communities Minister.
Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Cabinet after last year's general election, is expected to join the top table this time. Junior ministers likely to move up include Liam Byrne at Health and Jim Murphy at the Cabinet Office. Two backbench allies of Gordon Brown Ed Balls and Ed Miliband may become ministers.
Mr Blair is said to have a departure date in mind but is determined not to provoke another flurry of speculation about his exit by making his intentions public.
Mr Blair's efforts to remain in office were dealt a blow when an ICM survey for the BBC showed that half of voters want him to stand down by the end of this year.
Mr and Mrs Prescott emerge to vote... but his mistress faces the sack
John Prescott was given a show of support by his wife, Pauline, at their first public appearance together since the revelations about his affair with his Whitehall diary secretary, Tracey Temple.
The Deputy Prime Minister and his wife held hands fleetingly as they entered the polling station to vote in local elections in Hull, near Mr Prescott's constituency home.
Ms Temple, 43, may face the sack for selling her story to a newspaper and thereby breaking the Civil Service code which states that employees should retain the confidence of ministers served.
Mr Prescott is planning to use an interview with Andrew Marr on BBC television on Sunday to take the blame for the affair and deflect some of the criticism over Labour's defeat in yesterday's local elections from Tony Blair.
"John is going to accept that he has been very stupid and will take his share of the blame for the way that has damaged Labour support," said a close ally. "He is going to accept that he has caused a lot of pain both to his family and the party."
Mr Prescott agreed to appear on the programme before his affair was reported. Ms Temple has given a graphic account of the affair, and more extracts from her diary will be published on Sunday. They do not contain damaging remarks by Mr Prescott about cabinet colleagues. Colin Brown

BYE BYE to Fungus the security elephant!!!
Reid in Clarke out - Blears to chair the party! all set for Iran!

Clarke sacked as Blair reshuffles cabinet
By Ben Hall Published: May 5 2006 - FT.com
Tony Blair sacked Charles Clarke as home secretary onFriday in a far-reaching cabinet reshuffle aimed at reasserting the prime minister's political authority after a battering in the English local electons.
The moved immediately backfired on Mr Blair when Mr Clarke publicly questioned the prime minister's judgement in removing him. Mr Clarke has been succeeded by John Reid, one of Mr Blair's closest allies.
Mr Blair also replaced Jack Straw as foreign secretary with Margaret Beckett, who moves from her position as environment secretary, while Geoff Hoon becomes minister for Europe, attending cabinet.
John Prescott retained the role of deputy prime minister, despite recent revelations of an extra-marital affair that added to Labour's troubles, but he lost his government department, which will no longer exist in its current form.
In a statement to reporters, Mr Clarke said during his time at the Home Office he had discovered deep-seated and long-standing problems that he wanted to address by remaining in the post.
Mr Blair had concluded that his staying on as home secretary "is likely to stand in the way" of the necessary reforms, Mr Clarke said. "I do not agree with that judgement."
David Cameron's rejuvenated Conservatives were the clear winners of the night and were heading for their best poll performance since 1992 with an estimated 40 per cent of the vote.
Despite the furore over the failure to deport foreign criminals, financial problems in the health service and the revelation of John Prescott's affair, Labour did not suffer the electoral meltdown that some of the party's strategists had predicted.
The party lost control of a string of councils, including its London flagship of Camden, and more than 250 councillors.
Gordon Brown, the chancellor, described the losses as a "warning shot" for a party that needed to reconnect with voters' concerns. "The renewal of the Labour Party must start now," he said.
The Conservatives made solid advances, gaining some 250 councillors but failed to make headway in northern inner city areas, such as Manchester, which remain Tory-free zones.
Labour's share of the vote was projected to fall to 26 per cent, third behind the Liberal Democrats on 27 per cent, and equalling its result in 2004, the worst under Mr Blair's leadership, and well down on the 32 per cent in 2002 when this set of councils was last contested.
With Labour set to come third in terms of its overall share of the vote – well behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – Mr Blair will carry out a reshuffle that aims to reassert his grip on the government.
Labour has lost control of a string of high-profile councils it has controlled for many years. In London, the principal battleground where seats in all 32 borough councils were contested, Labour lost overall control of Camden and surrendered to the Conservatives Hammersmith & Fulham, Croydon, Bexley and Ealing, the latter often considered a bellwether council.
The Conservatives also took the London boroughs of Havering, Harrow and Hillingdon from no overall control.
In one small compensation the party regained control of Lambeth, where the Lib Dems were in coalition with the Conservatives.
Outside London, Labour lost control of Stoke on Trent and Bury, while the Tories took over Crawley.
It was a disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats, fighting their first major elections under the leadership of Sir Menzies Campbell. They re-took Richmond from the Conservatives and became the largest group on Camden council, but they unexpectedly lost control of neighbouring Islington and of Milton Keynes, two of their flagship authorities.
The British National Party made localised advances, winning 11 councillors in Barking & Dagenham in East London, where Margaret Hodge, the local Labour MP controversially warned last month of a haemorrhage of white, working class support from Labour to the far right.

BYE BYE to The Straw man!

Tony Blair Shakes Up Cabinet After Losses
By BETH GARDINER
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair fired his foreign secretary who had taken a different tack on Iran and reportedly expressed doubts about the Iraq war in a wide-ranging Cabinet shuffle Friday, a day after the governing party took a pounding in local elections.
Blair replaced Jack Straw with Margaret Beckett, who had headed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and becomes the first woman to hold the foreign secretary position.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke, embroiled in a politically damaging furor over the failure to deport foreign criminals, also said Blair had removed him from office. Defense Secretary John Reid was named the new law and order chief, and Des Browne was promoted from chief secretary at the Treasury to secretary of defense.
The moves came after Labour Party pulled 26 percent of Thursday's vote to the Conservatives 40 percent, a result that renewed calls from some quarters for the prime minister to step down. The local elections also resulted in unprecedented gains for the far right.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who admitted an affair with a secretary, will keep his title but was stripped of the responsibilities of his department, which include housing and planning.
"I felt that it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for Charles to continue" as home secretary, said Blair, who days earlier had defended Clarke as the right man to deal with the prisoner issue.
Clarke said he had turned down offers of other government posts. "I do not think it would be appropriate to remain in this government in these circumstances," Clarke said in a statement.
Straw's demotion was a surprise.
But there had long been rumors of tension between Straw and Blair _ some reports said the outgoing foreign secretary had private expressed doubts about the Iraq war, and he publicly took a different position on Iran than Blair did. Straw frequently described military action against Tehran as "inconceivable" and the reported U.S. contingency plans for a tactical nuclear strike as "completely nuts."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Straw after hearing the news and wished him well, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Rice and Straw teamed up during a trip to Iraq last month to try to expedite the formation of a government there.
"She has had an excellent working relationship with him ... You saw that demonstrated time and time again, including on their trip Baghdad," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "While she will miss him as a colleague the friendship with he and his wife, Alice, will continue."
Rice also looks forward to working with Beckett and expects to talk with her soon, McCormack said.
The shake-up appeared aimed at demonstrating Blair still holds a firm grip on his beleaguered government after weeks of negative headlines and scandal.
The government's acknowledgment last week that officials had failed to screen 1,023 foreign criminals for deportation before freeing them from prison in the past seven years was particularly damaging to Blair.
"It'll take far more than a reshuffle," Conservative Party leader David Cameron said. "What we need in this country is a replacement of the government."
"I think what we have seen over the last few hours is that while the Labour Party is collapsing, the Conservative Party is building," Cameron said as he toured London to celebrate his party's gains in the local elections.
Glenda Jackson, a former Labour government minister who has been a persistent Blair critic, joined the calls for him to go. "The problem for the party and its government is its leader," she said.
Thursday's vote was widely seen as a referendum on Blair's government, and Cameron emerged as the main winner.
"I'm a happy man this morning," said Cameron, who took over the party in December.
Labour took 1,065 seats in incomplete counting, down 251 seats compared with the results of the last election. The Conservatives won 1,567 seats, a gain of 249. Labour lost control of 16 local councils _ including some boroughs in London _ and the Tories gained eight.
The far-right British National Party won 13 seats.
Labour also did badly in the 2004 local vote but that didn't stop Blair from leading the party to its third straight national election victory a year later _ albeit with a reduced majority in the House of Commons.
Treasury chief Gordon Brown, the man expected to succeed Blair, said voters were concerned about issues of crime, terrorism and their financial and job security. "We've got to show in the next few days, not just in the next few weeks, that we are sorting these problems out," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Voters Thursday chose representatives to fill 4,360 seats in 176 local authorities across England, a little less than half of all English councils. London was the biggest battleground, with elections in all 32 boroughs.
Most Labour members of Parliament "are saying now that we've got to get the party under new management. It ought to happen fairly soon," said Frank Dobson, who was health secretary in Blair's first Cabinet.
Associated Press> Writer Daniel Woolls contributed to this story.

All [no] change!

Winners and losers on day of ministerial merry-go-round
By Nigel Morris, Colin Brown, Anne Penketh, Richard Garner and Andy McSmith
Published: 06 May 2006 - independent.co.uk

Charles Clarke, SACKED AS HOME SECRETARY
In an aside to MPs six months ago, Charles Clarke made clear his disquiet over the number of foreigners in British jails.
With the Home Secretary facing a momentous political battle over anti-terror legislation, his comments were barely noticed at the time. But a chain of events behind the scenes was under way in the Home Office that would ultimately lead to Mr Clarke's downfall.
Ten days ago he was forced to announce that 1,023 foreign prisoners - including murderers, rapists and paedophiles - had been released without deportation hearings. Hours later, he admitted that 288 of them had been let out since he became aware of the problem. When he had made his comments in October about foreign prisoners, the releases had reached a peak.
The disclosures provided graphic evidence of the endemic problems in the Home Office which a succession of big-hitting politicians failed to tackle.
Although Mr Clarke accepted responsibility for the prisoner release crisis, he was powerless to prevent a procession of damaging developments as Labour prepared to fight a tricky set of local elections.
The news emerged on Thursday night that a terrorist suspect had not been deported despite serving a prison sentence for robbery. Although Tony Blair appears to have already decided to dismiss his pugnacious Home Secretary, it merely underlined why the Prime Minister felt a new face was needed at the department.
Mr Clarke, whose reputation as a bruiser was offset by his fluency in several foreign languages and his fascination with statistics, inherited the Home Office 16 months ago at a time of crisis.
The day after he arrived, law lords ruled that David Blunkett's use of detention without trial for terror suspects was unlawful. He devised a regime of control orders allowing suspects to live at home under tight restrictions, which drew the wrath of civil rights campaigners and many lawyers.
He was also at the centre of a hail of criticism over a series of murders and rapes committed by offenders on probation - including the killings of 16-year-old Mary-Ann Leneghan in Reading and the financier John Monckton at his home in Chelsea.
Mr Clarke sparked fury among police officers with his plans to merge local services into regional superforces. But he successfully steered the Bill introducing identity cards through Parliament despite opposition in the House of Lords and howls of outrage in the liberal press.
After the scale of the threat from terrorism became clear on 7 July last year, Mr Clarke unveiled a raft of tough new anti-terror measures, including 90-day detention, a plan which led to the Government's first Commons defeat. Signs were growing by then of a rift with Downing Street. By yesterday it had become unbridgeable.
Intellectually confident and politically fearless, Mr Clarke was brought into the Home Office as someone capable of driving through contentious legislation in the teeth of opposition. A former chief of staff to Neil Kinnock, Mr Clarke was elected to Parliament in 1997 at the age of 46. He lost no time making his way up the ministerial ladder, serving in the Department of Education (1998-99) and Home Office (1999-2001) before being appointed Labour Party chairman after the 2001 general election. He was elevated to Education Secretary after Estelle Morris's surprise resignation in 2002, and was transferred to the Home Office after Mr Blunkett resigned.
While he was Education Secretary, Mr Clarke got the Bill introducing university tuition fees on to the statute books despite a massive Labour revolt, with the Government's majority slashed to five at one point. Alan Johnson, his deputy at the time, said they got measure through by means of a "charm offensive" - "I was charming and he was offensive."
Mr Clarke's departure from the Home Office will come as a blow to many of those he worked with. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, said: "It is a disappointing loss. Unlike many of his predecessors, Charles Clarke was willing to listen and consult with trade unions."
Rick Nayor, president of the Police Superintendents' Association, said: "He has been the driving force behind police reform and restructuring forces in England and Wales." Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said: "Charles Clarke has been a significant and supportive ally of the police service, and, although there were inevitably times when we disagreed with detail, Acpo has certainly been a strong advocate of the direction in which he was taking the service."
However, the one figure whose opinion was decisive took a more critical view. In a statement, the Prime Minister said: "I felt that it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for Charles to continue in this post. I was keen not to lose Charles' talents from government and offered him a number of other cabinet posts. But I understand his decision to leave the Government and know he will continue to be a major figure in our party."
Clarke's statement
"It is with deep regret that I'm today leaving the office of Home Secretary in which it has been my great honour to serve for the past 16 months.
"In this role, as in previous jobs in Government, it has been my ambition to bring about the change necessary to transform the security of this country in relation to counter-terrorism and policing, prisons and probation, and immigration and asylum.
"As I sought to make the necessary changes to very deep-seated and long-standing problems, I have uncovered areas where still more and faster change is needed.
"One such issue is how to deal with foreign national prisoners for which I have taken overall responsibility and on which I have staked my reputation.
"The Prime Minister, as is his right and responsibility, has made the judgment that my continued occupation of the post of Home Secretary is likely to stand in the way of the continued reforms which remain necessary.
"And though I do not agree with that judgment, I entirely accept his right to make it.
"However, I do not think it would be appropriate to remain in Government in these circumstances and so I shall return to the backbenches where I will be a strong and active supporter of this Government and the leadership of Tony Blair for his full Parliamentary term."

John Prescott, STRIPPED OF POWER
John Prescott has lost the Whitehall department created for him by Tony Blair but kept the trappings of power despite his damaging affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.
Mr Prescott, 67, retains his title as Deputy Prime Minister, and will also keep a six-figure cabinet salary, his official Jaguar, his apartment at Admiralty House and his grace and favour country house, Dorneywood.
He has pulled out of a BBC TV interview tomorrow in the face of more revelations about his affair by Ms Temple in a Sunday newspaper. He was planning to admit he was entirely to blame for his affair with his secretary but will be spending the weekend with his wife Pauline at the family home in Hull. "He would rather be at home with Pauline than in London," said a friend. "He is going to shut the door for a few days and stay with Pauline."
Mrs Prescott posed for pictures with her husband in a show of support on Thursday when they voted at their local polling station in Hull.
Even before the sex scandal hit the news stands, Mr Prescott had asked Mr Blair to be taken out of the front line and to be allowed to continue as Deputy Prime Minister without portfolio. "He's got what he wanted. He's been talking about wanting to get out of the front line for months with Blair," said one ally.
Another friend said: "He's been fed up with his department, and taking the blame for everything from the rise in the council tax to Gypsies."
Kate Hoey, the pro-hunting Labour MP, questioned why taxpayers should pay for Mr Prescott to stay in the Cabinet after losing his Whitehall job. Critics are certain to ask: what is Mr Prescott in the Government for?
Allies said he will be seen as the "minister for the handover", brokering a smooth transition of power between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown.
He was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in 1994. When Labour came to power in 1997, he wanted to be given a freewheeling role as delivery-chaser and behind-the-scenes fixer. Mr Blair instead gave him the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, to give him the experience of a running a Whitehall department, for which he later thanked Mr Blair.
However, Mr Blair bowed to Mr Prescott's wishes in 2001, and appointed him to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Its main role was to oversee local government, but in 2005 David Miliband was brought in to carry out the running of the department, leaving Mr Prescott free to chair a plethora of cabinet committees.
He will continue in that role, chairing up to 14 cabinet committees when the Prime Minister is absent.
He also remains deputy leader of the Labour Party but is now more likely to step down from the post when Mr Blair finally goes.

Jack Straw, DEMOTED
The decision to openly challenge the attempts by Downing Street to keep in step with the hawkish Bush administration over Iran was to prove costly for Jack Straw yesterday.
Mr Straw, 59, was moved from the Foreign Office to become Leader of the House. He had discussed the post over a year ago with Tony Blair, but it still came as a surprise when he was told he would be moved.
He had taken an active role in leading UN Security Council action on Iran and had been scheduled to fly to New York for a dinner with the foreign ministers of the council's permanent members. Now it will be Margaret Beckett who will attend those talks, at a time when the Security Council is bitterly divided over tactics to convince Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Foreign Office sources were at a loss to explain why he had been chosen for what smacks of punishment by being named Leader of the House. But a senior European observer said he was being "punished for disloyalty". He said that Mr Straw was paying the price for "stabbing Blair in the back" in 2004, by siding with Gordon Brown at a time when the Iraq conflict was deepening. There were also tensions between Mr Straw and Mr Blair over the EU budget at the end of last year, with Mr Straw accused of siding with Mr Brown.
On Iran, the Foreign Secretary had repeatedly described military action against Tehran as "inconceivable" and US contingency plans for a tactical nuclear strike as "nuts", while Mr Blair, like Mr Bush, had refused to rule out any option.
Mr Straw's aides point out that he was the architect of Europe's Iran policy (with the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer) which offered Tehran incentives to co-operate in curbing its nuclear programme. But his critics say he lacked vision.

Margaret Beckett, PROMOTED
Margaret Beckett surprised those who expected her to be retired by being promoted to become the first female Foreign Secretary.
Mrs Beckett, 63, who famously takes her holidays in a caravan with her husband, Leo, has been one of the great survivors of the Blair Government.
She won a reputation as a feisty campaigner for British interests as Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and is expected to be a tough negotiator on the international stage over difficult issues such as Iran.
On Thursday, she was praised by the Prime Minister after delivering a tough assessment of the dangers facing the world through climate change. Mr Blair said it was the best presentation the Cabinet had seen but she was more qualified than most to understand the scientific challenges presented by climate change.
Before entering Parliament, she completed an engineering apprenticeship, and went on to work as a metallurgist at Manchester University. She took over Defra after the outbreak of mad cow disease and helped to turn around the department, lifting low morale among her staff as she steered it towards a more modern role as the champion of the consumer rather than the producers, the farmers.
She has recently been criticised by farmers for presiding over a chaotic system of agricultural payments. She was also attacked at Defra for frequently relying on jets of the Queen's Flight to get to European meetings rather than the train, a habit which earned her the nickname "minister for air miles".
However, she is highly regarded by Downing Street for possessing a "safe pair of hands" and was a natural choice to defend the Government in times of crisis on the BBC Today programme, when others preferred to duck the task.

Alan Johnson, PROMOTED
Alan Johnson's appointment as Education Secretary - succeeding Ruth Kelly - was welcomed by many in academia. They credit him with helping to steer the controversial top-up fees legislation through the Commons in his previous post as minister for Higher Education.
University vice-chancellors saw him as a man they could do business with, and many inside the Department for Education and Skills believe he, rather than his former departmental boss Charles Clarke, was responsible for getting potential rebel MPs to change their minds, through cosy chats in the tea-rooms. Tony Blair will want the former union leader to use his negotiating skills again to win rebels over to his new flagship education reforms, to set up independently run "trust" schools.
Mr Johnson was orphaned at 12 and was almost sent to a Barnardo's home. He and his 15-year-old sister argued they should stay together and they were given a council flat in Battersea.
Aged 55, he is married with one son.

John Reid, PROMOTED AGAIN
John Reid's promotion to Home Secretary - perhaps the hardest job in the Cabinet - was not a surprise, but a lot of grumbling could be heard about it, from inside and outside the Labour Party.
He is the first Scot to be appointed Home Secretary since devolution, and apart from the troublesome issue of immigration, most of his responsibilities do not extend north of the border. It is also the ninth job he has held in nine years.
From Tony Blair's point of view, the new Home Secretary's assets are that he is tough and combative. With him in charge, voters are unlikely to think Labour is going soft on criminals, and they have a home secretary who can take on tough interviewers. He is also a committed Blairite who may yet decide that it is worth challenging Gordon Brown for the top job.
Mr Reid's experience of high-level politics goes back to when he was appointed adviser to Neil Kinnock in 1983. As an MP from 1987, he made relatively slow progress but has outlasted his contemporaries who rose faster, such as David Blunkett.

...i think i'm going to throw up! PULEEESE!

Rice calls Straw and Beckett after reshuffle
05/05/2006 - breakingnews.iol.ie
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today called Britain's former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and his successor, Margaret Beckett, after a shake-up in the government, the US State Department said.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice's call to Jack Straw "was from her perspective, I think, a bittersweet call," noting the close professional and personal relationship between the two.
"She had no better or closer colleague than Jack Straw," McCormack said.
He said their personal friendship was evident in trips Straw made to Rice's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and Rice's trip to Straw's constituency of Blackburn.
He said Rice had a good discussion with Beckett "and the secretary really looks forward to working with her."
"There are a lot of tough issues on the agenda, but there are no closer allies than the US and the UK in facing up to these issues that are before us," he said

John Prescott has been stripped of his responsibilities...

What does Prescott do now for his money, Tories ask
By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor Telegraph(Filed: 07/05/2006)
John Prescott was last night facing a series of questions over his new role in the Government as senior Conservatives accused him of misusing taxpayers' money.
The Deputy Prime Minister faced demands to explain his precise duties and how they justify a £134,000 Cabinet salary and an estimated £500,000 of perks in official residences and cars.
Mr Prescott held onto his title and privileges, including the use of Dorneywood and Admiralty House, despite being stripped of his responsibility for local government, council tax, regeneration and communities in Tony Blair's brutal reshuffle last week.
Even Labour MPs have voiced dismay at the situation. Geraldine Smith, the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think it's outrageous that the Deputy Prime Minister loses his department but keeps his position, his salary and the perks of the job. I think most people were astonished by this reshuffle."
So far the Tory leadership has held back from openly criticising Mr Prescott since revelations of an affair with his secretary, Tracey Temple, but the gloves came off yesterday as Chris Grayling, the shadow transport secretary, published a list of questions for Mr Prescott.
The Tories say it is crucial to know what proportion of Mr Prescott's time will be allocated to matters related to the Labour Party and what provision the Prime Minister is making to reimburse the taxpayer for that time.
"How many civil servants will be assigned to work for him? How many Cabinet committees will he chair and how often will they meet?" Mr Grayling said.
Mr Blair said last week that Mr Prescott would chair committees on climate change and deputise for him when he is away.