UK government crisis What started as a furore over MPs’ expense claims has snowballed into an all-engulfing political crisis. Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, was hoping to save his job with a government reshuffle after James Purnell, work and pensions secretary, quit the cabinet and urged him to stand aside to give Labour a chance to win the next general election, to be held by 2010. The ruling party, already hammered in local elections, was braced for a drubbing in voting for the European Parliament.
The UK government in crisis
Friday 5 June 2009
Gordon Brown brings forward his reshuffle in a bid to save his job after James Purnell resigns from the cabinet and urges the prime minister to 'stand aside' to give Labour a chance of winning the next election
Friday 5 June 2009
Alistair Darling keeps his job as chancellor after a dramatic power struggle within Downing Street. Mr Darling told Mr Brown to his face on Thursday night that he did not want to leave the Treasury, winning a bruising trial of strength with the prime minister who had wanted to make Ed Balls, his close ally, chancellor
Friday 5 June 2009
David Miliband, who stays on as foreign secretary after reports that Mr Brown wanted to replace him with Lord Mandelson, business secretary, says Mr Purnell's departure is a loss. 'However, I don't agree with the judgment he made,' he said. 'Today is a day for working, not resigning, and that's what I'm going to do.'
Thursday 4 June 2009
Sir Alan Sugar, the entrepreneur who hosts The Apprentice TV show, will receive a peerage and a new enterprise role within the government after he was spotted at Downing Street on Thursday
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary embarrassed early on by an adult movies expenses claim incurred by her husband, becomes the first minister to announce ahead of the reshuffle that she would resign. She is followed in short order by Hazel Blears, the communities secretary who felt unfairly singled out by the prime minister over her expense claims. The departure of the two women prompts Ms Smith to deny suggestions of a conspiracy by 'Blair babes' to oust Mr Brown
