Politics

Boris Johnson is set to receive a £72,000 a year parachute payment for stepping down as London Mayor. The sum is given to every former boss of the capital who leaves City Hall, according to The Sun, and is used as a resettlement grant to ease the blow of the sudden loss of career. But Johnson earned £612,000 last year and is set for a similar sum again as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip as well as various publishing deals and...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As the Government was facing a defeat in the lead up to the hotly debated EU referendum, they have accepted that the NHS will now be protected by the highly controversial TTIP. The amendment was backed by an unlikely alliance of SNP, Green, Tory and Labour MPs. Now there is a guarantee that the NHS will now be protected by the deal. The cross-party alliance of Eurosceptic MPs demanded the NHS is protected from controversial...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Official figures released by NHS Improvement have shown that NHS trust in England, closed 2015-16 financial year, £461m worse off than had been forecasted. This means that we now have a record deficit in England of £2.45bn, the largest in its history. The health service is trying to cope with a large rise in demand and budget constraints, leaving it with this dire financial black hole. NHS financial experts claim the full scale of the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor As embarrassing things your dad would do, this must rate near the top. Today David Cameron attempted to recreate the Beatles' Abbey Road picture, but with only one other person, pop legend...Tessa Jowell. There is no way around it, it simply didn't work, Cameron strode across the zebra crossing, like an army major, with the ex-culture secretary leading the march across the road. The PM was at the world famous studios to meet 300 famous people...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Jeremy Hunt was taken apart by veteran broadcaster Jon Snow on Channel 4 News over the Junior Doctors fiasco, and millions tuned in to see the event. Expert video editor Chris Presswell noticed how well the interview fitted with a classic scene from BBC comedy series, ‘The Thick Of It’, and put this gem together, well worth a watch, even if you don't know the show, which you should, it's one of the best tv shows ever...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A prominent Labour politician, Chuka Umunna, has accused the UKIP leader of echoing Enoch Powell. Umunna said that Farage was showing “shades of Enoch Powell” due to his warning that there may be violence on the streets of Britain if immigration kept rising. A vote to remain in EU could lead to conflict in his opinion. Chuka thought the UKIP leader sounded like Powell’s famous “rivers of blood” speech, who made a speech regarding immigration...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Pat Glass, Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister, has decided to apologise after branding a voter a “horrible racist.” Glass was in Derbyshire on a Vote Remain campaign visit at the time. The comment was captured by BBC Radio Derby says: “The very first person I come to is a horrible racist. I’m never coming back to wherever this is.” Ex-PM Gordon Brown was also caught in a similar circumstance when he called Gillian Duffy a “bigoted woman.”...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Secretary, wasn’t happy with the PM comments in the House of Commons, today. Cameron claimed she “didn’t believe in defence,” and he had to deal with a Shadow Farming Secretary who is a vegan. In retaliation she theatrically mouthed “bollocks” twice at Cameron in full view of the Commons TV cameras. The Shadow Defence Secretary took issue with Mr Cameron's claim she "didn't believe in defence." A spokesman for Corbyn who has...

Andy Burnham has announced his intentions to run in the first election for Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017. The Labour frontbencher has been MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester since 2001 and announced his intentions in an interview with the Guardian. Speaking to students in Altrincham today, he said: "The North has been playing second fiddle for far too long. “The new role of Mayor of Greater Manchester would give the North a new voice and it is something that...