Nick Clegg questioned by Lib Dems over Tory deal

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UK General Election 2010: Nick Clegg admits £20000 was paid into his account -Britain's election race tightens after second TV debate

Nick Clegg (L), David Cameron (C), and Gordon Brown

Britain's election race tightened after the second party leaders' TV debate failed to produce a runaway winner, increasing the chances of a hung parliament.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown clashed Thursday with Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg on issues ranging from Britain's nuclear deterrent to its role in Europe.

All eyes were on Clegg to see if he could outshine his opponents as he did in the first debate last week, which propelled his party from its traditional third position in polls into second, and sometimes even first, place.


David Cameron


Gordon Brown participates in the second of three live televised debates.Second debate for party leaders as election race hots up.



Instant polls taken after the clash gave the Lib Dem leader a slim margin of victory over Cameron. But the parties were close and the result suggested Britain was headed for a tight three-way race in the May 6 general election.

The results appeared to increase the likelihood that the vote would produce Britain's first hung parliament -- where no party has an overall majority -- since 1974.

The leaders appeared more at ease than in the first US-style televised debate last week, and were quick to begin trading blows.

Brown, of the ruling Labour Party, accused his opponents of leaving Britain poorly defended against nuclear attack and at risk of isolation in Europe.

"Nick, you will leave us weak, David you will leave us isolated in Europe," Brown said.

In a rare moment of agreement during Thursday's debate on Sky News television, Brown and Cameron joined forces to attack the Liberal Democrat leader's opposition to renewing Britain's Trident nuclear missile programme.

Brown said: "I say to you Nick 'get real, get real' because Iran, you are saying, might be able to have a nuclear weapon and you wouldn't take action against them."

"Get real about the danger that we face if we have North Korea, Iran and other countries with nuclear weapons," he added.

Clegg criticised both the government's and the main opposition's plans to spend money on replacing a "Cold War nuclear missile system."

To laughs from the audience, Cameron said: "I have never uttered these words but 'I agree with Gordon'."

The leaders also clashed over Europe, with Brown and the Lib Dem leader attacking Cameron for his decision to withdraw his party's European lawmakers from the centre-right European People's Party.

The prime minister accused Cameron of aligning himself with "right-wing extremists", while Clegg said the Tory leader was working with "nutters, anti-Semites."

Cameron however claimed both his opponents had let Brussels take too many powers away from London without any sort of consultation.

"What you are hearing from the other two is, frankly, do not trust the people," he said.

"Do not ask them when you pass powers from Westminster to Brussels."

The leaders were also asked directly if they thought a coalition government -- which would be the outcome of a hung parliament -- was the way forward for Britain.

Clegg, who could hold the balance of power if no one party has an overall majority, spoke positively of such an outcome.

"People are beginning to hope that we can do something different this time," he told the audience.

Cameron reiterated his view that it would be a bad result, saying: "I think we do need decisive government to take some of the difficult decisions for the long term."

Clegg dismissed as "rubbish" accusations of wrongdoing after a story in the Daily Telegraph paper revealed that three businessmen paid up to 250 pounds a month into his bank account in 2006, a year before he became party leader.

A series of instant polls taken after the clash indicated the poll battle would be tight.

An average of five surveys gave Clegg a slight lead -- on 33.8 percent -- but only slightly ahead of Cameron, who was on 32.8 percent.

Brown meanwhile scored 27.6 percent.

Meanwhile, a crowd of some 150 protesters gathered outside the debate venue in Bristol, southwest England, and police made six arrests for public order offences.

The demonstrators were from a range of groups, including anti-war demonstrators and pro-Palestine campaigners.

Brown, Sarkozy slam US 'protectionism' over plane

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A KC-135 of U.S Air Force takes off from Manas U.S. air base near Bishkek, February 12, 2009.
European partner EADS and Northrop Grumman withdrew from tender bid  of a $50billion refuelling plane contract because of alleged protectism rules that favor rival Boeing.


Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, embraces French President Nicholas Sarkozy, as he arrives in Downing Street in London, Friday, March 12, 2010. A Downing Street spokesman says the discussions with French President Nicolas Sarkozy are likely to focus on the economy. European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels on March 25 and 26


Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, welcomes French President Nicholas Sarkozy, as he arrives in Downing Street in London, Friday, March 12, 2010. A Downing Street spokesman says the discussions with French President Nicolas Sarkozy are likely to focus on the economy. European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels on March 25 and 26

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, embraces French President Nicholas Sarkozy, as he arrives in Downing Street in London, Friday, March 12, 2010.


The French and British leaders accused the U.S. of protectionism on Friday over a contract to build a new Air Force refueling tanker.

A European-led consortium pulled out of bidding this week for the $35 billion contract, saying the Pentagon was favoring rival American bidder Boeing.

"This is not the right way for the United States to treat its European allies," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

"If they want to be spearheading the fight against protectionism, they shouldn't be setting the wrong example of protectionism," he said. "In life there is what you say and then there is what you do."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was disappointed with the situation.

"We believe in free trade, we believe in open markets, we believe in open competition," he said.

The withdrawal of a bid by EADS, the parent company of Airbus, and Northrop Grumman, leaves Chicago-based Boeing as the only bidder for the 179-tanker order.

The EADS-led consortium was awarded a contract for the tanker fleet in 2008, but Boeing protested and the deal was annulled later that year.

The European Union has warned Washington about possible protectionism, saying it "would be extremely concerned if it were to emerge that the terms of tender were such as to inhibit open competition for the contract."

Sarkozy and Brown gave their news conference after holding talks at the prime minister's residence that focused largely on the economy.

Both leaders suggested a compromise was possible next week on the thorny issue of hedge fund and private equity fund regulation. The U.S. and Britain, which is home to most European hedge funds, are wary of proposed EU reforms to regulate the industry, fearing they could stifle growth and harm business.

Together with the financial industry, they have criticized the proposed reforms as too stringent, while socialist European lawmakers — eager to crack down on risky trading — see them as too lenient.

"I believe, as Nicolas does, that we can reach a solution over the next few days on these issues," Brown said.

The European Commission recommended last year that hedge funds and private equity funds should register in Europe and inform regulators about trades and debts to prove that they don't pose a risk to the financial system.

Funds based outside Europe would have to show that they face similar oversight at home and cooperate with European tax authorities. The reforms were intended to pressure the U.S. to step up supervision.

British Treasury chief Alistair Darling has suggested that hedge funds authorized by regulators to operate in any one EU country should then be allowed a "passport" to operate across the bloc.

Sarkozy later held a meeting with Britain's main opposition leader, David Cameron, who is hoping to oust Brown at a national election to be held by June 3. Cameron's office said the men pledged to maintain close ties if the Conservative Party leader becomes British prime minister.

U.S. setting bad example on protectionism: Sarkozy

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France accused Washington on Friday of setting the wrong example on protectionism, suggesting there had not been a level playing field in the race for a $50 billion refueling plane contract.

U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman and its European partner EADS withdrew on Monday from a renewed competition to supply tankers to the U.S. Air Force, saying the rules favored rival bidder Boeing, the top U.S. exporter.

Boeing is now the sole known bidder for the contract.

Asked what he thought of the issue during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sarkozy delivered a scathing attack on how the United States had handled the tender.

"I did not appreciate this decision ... This is not the right way to behave," Sarkozy said.

"Such methods by the United States are not good for its European allies, and such methods are not good for the United States, a great, leading nation with which we are on close and friendly terms," he said.

"If they want to be heard in the fight against protectionism, they should not set the example of protectionism."

For EADS, the parent company of the Airbus plane-maker, the stand-down was a setback in a major push to pierce the lucrative U.S. military market.

Northrop and EADS won the last competition in February 2008, but the Pentagon canceled that deal after government auditors upheld a protest by Boeing.

Gordon Brown visits Afghanistan amid Iraq inquiry row

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Brown talks with Afghan village elders at the Shawaz operating base, which until three weeks ago was a Taliban stronghold

Gordon Brown met some of the 4,000 British troops who took part in last month's Operation Moshtarak

The Prime Minister also met Afghan police trainees

The heavily-criticised Snatch Land Rover is to be replaced with 200 new patrol vehicles in Afghanistan to protect troops from booby-traps, it was revealed as Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to the war-torn country.

News of a £118 million investment in new vehicles and equipment for came after former commanders accused the Prime Minister of deliberately misleading the Iraq inquiry over equipment shortages.

The Prime Minister flew to Afghanistan immediately after giving evidence at the Chilcot Inquiry yesterday, where he was challenged over the failings of the Snatch Land Rover in Iraq.

He denied claims that he starved the military of funds as Chancellor and instead blamed the military for failing properly to equip the Armed Forces for war.

Officials travelling with Brown during his swift tour of Helmand Province, said that Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth will announce within weeks a £100 million investment in the new British-built vehicles, which should arrive in Afghanistan by late 2011.

They will replace the lightly-defended Land Rovers, which have been blamed for the deaths of troops in roadside bomb blasts during the conflict.

The new vehicles are smaller and lighter than the Mastiff and Ridgeback armoured personnel carriers which are already taking over some of the tasks of the more vulnerable Snatch.

A further £18 million will provide equipment and training for Afghan forces to deal with the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used by the Taliban against British and allied forces and 150 new instructors from the UK police and Army will be deployed to train Afghan police.

As part of his visit Brown met and thanked some of the 4,000 British forces who took part in last month’s assault on insurgent strongholds in the opening phase of Operation Moshtarak, which he said had “brought results which are better than anticipated”.

He visited the Shawaz operating base, which until three weeks ago was a Taliban stronghold, and met Afghan elders who are distributing tomato, onion and watermelon seeds to farmers to convince them to give up cultivating opium poppies.

He also toured a police training centre which is part of an effort to increase the Afghan domestic force to 134,000 officers by next year.

Brown said training Afghan forces was the "right approach" and would mean "our troops can come home.”

“My visit is an opportunity to say thank you to the thousands of British, Afghan and international troops involved and to the dozens of civilian experts working on stabilisation," he said.

“Their bravery, sacrifice and professionalism are an example of how the international community can and should intervene to make us all safer.

“The Afghan Army is already rapidly expanding. Around 7,000 Afghan troops are being trained each month. But we also need a strong Afghan police force to create enduring security. That is a key challenge for the next phase.”

Standing in front of a plaque commemorating the Britons who have died in Afghanistan, Brown told troops: "We will do everything we can to support you with the equipment necessary and the resources you need.”

But Brown has been criticised, following his appearance at the Iraq inquiry, for his role in equipping the armed forces, while Chancellor, when war broke out.

Brown said that every request for money for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and occupation of Iraq was swiftly approved by the Treasury. He shifted the blame on to generals when confronted with complaints from the relatives of soldiers killed in attacks on Snatch Land Rovers.

Admiral Lord Boyce, the Chief of the Defence Staff up to the start of the invasion in 2003, said: “He’s dissembling, he’s being disingenuous. It’s just not the case that the Ministry of Defence was given everything it needed.

“There may have been a 1.5 per cent increase in the defence budget but the MoD was starved of funds.”

Year on year when Brown was Chancellor it failed to get the money it needed to meet the level of activity demanded by the Government, he said.

Colonel Stuart Tootal, former commander of 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, said: “I am quite staggered by the lack of any sense of responsibility. He was the man with the purse strings.”

The Prime Minister repeatedly expressed sorrow for the British and Iraqi deaths. He told the inquiry: “I think this is the gravest decision to go to war. It was the right decision and it was for the right reasons.”

A No10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister could not have been clearer in responses to repeated questions about military funding. Every request that the military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down."

Brown's betrayal: Defence cuts 'cost lives of soldiers' in Iraq, claim top brass

Brirish lives were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan because Gordon Brown denied the Armed Forces vital equipment, two former military chiefs have claimed.

The Prime Minister will today face questions over damaging claims that he 'betrayed' UK troops by chopping £1billion from the defence budget at the height of the Iraq war.

Speaking on the eve of the Premier's appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry into the war, Sir Graeme Lamb, former head of the SAS, and General Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, both spoke out on Mr Brown's record as Chancellor.
Sir Graeme, who advises General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said British troops were deprived of equipment that could have saved lives.

He blamed senior politicians and civil servants for undermining our military strength.

He warned the Armed Forces were 'pretty much doomed on our current course and thinking' and would become the 'dumpster of irrelevancy' unless given proper equipment.

'The future is bloody grim either way,' he said, adding that the Armed Forces were clearly in decline and increasingly seen as irrelevant by the public and politicians.
Sir Graeme told the Daily Telegraph that until recently Afghanistan had been ' stumbling toward failure'.

General Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, who led the Armed Forces from 1997 to 2001, told the Times that budget shortages had cost lives. 'Not fully funding the Army in the way they had asked ... undoubtedly cost the lives of soldiers,' he said.

'He [Mr Brown] should be asked why he was so unsympathetic towards defence and so sympathetic to other departments.'

The Prime Minister will give his first account of his role in the deeply unpopular Iraq conflict today.

Some of his Cabinet colleagues expect him to offer some gesture of contrition over deaths of servicemen and women.

Others are furious that the Prime Minister agreed to face the inquiry at all in the weeks before the election, fearing it is reminding wavering voters of Labour's most controversial decision.

The Prime Minister is expected to be pressed on private discussions with Cabinet colleagues in the build-up to the conflict, his decisions on funding as Chancellor and his withdrawal of troops as Prime Minister.

The Tories and the LibDems said it was right that Mr Brown is being called to account before the election.

He pointed to evidence from Sir Kevin Tebbit, the former top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, that he had been forced to run a 'crisis budget' after Mr implemented a 'complete guillotine' on funding in September

The then Chancellor was also present at meetings with MoD officials when the budget for 2004 was 2003. reached.

Mr Clegg said minutes and notes relevant to these decisions should be declassified by the Government and made public before Mr Brown's appearance.

He added: 'Today is the day that Gordon Brown wished would never come: The myth that this was solely Tony Blair's war is about to fall apart.'

Last year, the Government took the unprecedented step of vetoing the release of Cabinet minutes under freedom of information laws that were expected to reveal Mr Brown's private support for military action.

Alastair Campbell, the former No 10 communications director, has told the inquiry that Mr Brown was one of the inner circle of key ministers consulted by Mr Blair in the run-up to the invasion.
HELICOPTER NUMBERS CUT BY HALF

The number of helicopters available to British troops will have halved by the end of the decade, it was revealed last night.

Ministry of Defence figures show there will be 303 in the fleet by 2020, compared with 634 a month before the Iraq War began in March 2003.

Military commanders have warned that a shortage of 'rotary-wing' aircraft can mean that service personnel are forced to move around the battlefield by road - leaving them vulnerable to bombs.

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, a member of the Defence Select Committee, has uncovered Parliamentary answers which show the Government plans to cut the fleet drastically over the next ten years.

In February 2003 the MoD had 634 helicopters, but by July 2008 this has been reduced to 522 helicopters.

Despite claims by Gordon Brown that military chiefs had enough helicopters, and the announcement in December that Britain was buying another 22 troop-carrying Chinooks, this month the number of choppers stood at 492.

And the fleet will total just 303 by the end of the decade, according to official figures.

Mr Jenkin said: 'Helicopters are vital in the effort to improve battlefield mobility and reduce casualties and we need more not less of them, but Gordon Brown still doesn't seem to understand this.

'This goes back to his 2004 decision to cut the helicopter budget by £1.4billion at a time when we were already involved in two wars.'

The MoD said: 'While overall numbers have reduced, the capability of our helicopter fleet has in fact increased. Better aircraft have allowed increases in both the numbers of battlefield support helicopters available on operations and the flying hours they can provide.'



'Penny-pinching': Gordon Brown on a visit to Iraq in December 2008

Sacrifice: Private Adam Morris, 19, was killed in Basra in 2006 when his Snatch Land Rover struck a roadside bomb

Brown's election shambles: Man who ran Labour Party reveals chaos at No 10 in devastating new book

Mr Watt was less than complimentary about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's style of government




Seat of power: Mr Watt, left, takes his parents, Sandra and David, to No 10 while Tony Blair was Prime Minister




Damning: Former Labour chief Peter Watt reveals all in his memoirs




* PM’s inner circle don't like him, claims Brown's closest aide
* No10 is ‘completely dysfunctional’ under Brown
* Brown walked out of dinner party with US politicians because they sat down without his permission

Gordon Brown is facing a new crisis after the man who once ran the Labour Party launched a devastating attack on his leadership and backed calls for him to step down.

Former Labour General Secretary Peter Watt said Mr Brown was not fit to be Prime Minister, had reduced No 10 to a shambles and was derided even by some of his closest Cabinet allies.

Mr Watt’s bombshell allegations come just four days after a bid to oust Mr Brown led by ex-Ministers Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon.

And they come on the day that Mr Brown revealed that nothing would force him to quit and he dismissed the attempted coup as 'silliness'.

In an interview in the News of the World Mr Brown also said that Nelson Mandela's favourite poem in which the author says that his 'head is bloody but I remain unbowed' had inspired him.

But Mr Watt paid tribute to the ‘bravery’ of those rebels last night and urged Mr Brown to make way for a new leader ‘for the sake of Labour’.

But he denies the publication of his memoirs, serialised in today’s Mail on Sunday, is part of a carefully timed ‘second wave’ assault on the Prime Minister.

Mr Watt's attack comes as a new poll in today's Sunday Telegraph gave Labour supporters some cause for comfort, suggesting the Tories still only enjoyed a 10-point lead.

The ICM survey found that the Tories had flatlined at 40 per cent while Labour was up one on 30 per cent, despite the recent bout iof in-fighting. The Liberal Democrats were down one on 18 per cent.

However, Mr Watt's damaging charges of tantrums, treachery, cowardice and incompetence by Mr Brown are bound to raise doubts as to whether he can survive until the General Election, due by June 3.

The behind-the-scenes account is unprecedented.

Mr Watts is the first general secretary to write his memoirs, as the most senior officials in all main parties customarily observe a strict and permanent code of silence about controversial events during their term of office.
Those described by Mr Watt occurred just two years ago.

Moreover, nearly all the leading figures named and shamed in his book, Inside Out: My Story Of Betrayal And Cowardice At The Heart Of New Labour, are still in office.

In his book, Mr Watt, who resigned as Labour general secretary in 2007, claims:

* Mr Brown’s Cabinet ally Douglas Alexander said the PM’s inner circle wanted an early Election partly because even they didn’t like him – and they feared the British public would soon form the same view.
* The day Mr Brown called off the 2007 Election, denying he had ever intended to hold one, Labour chiefs had a fleet of limousines circling Parliament Square ready to take Ministers on the campaign trail, and had 1.5million leaflets ready to be posted.
* No10 is ‘completely dysfunctional’ under Mr Brown, who runs the country ‘by making it up as he goes along’.
* Sulking Mr Brown walked out of a Downing Street dinner party with US politicians because they sat down without his permission.

Mr Watt also reveals for the first time the inside story of the ‘Donorgate’ scandal which led to his resignation when The Mail on Sunday exposed how tycoon David Abrahams had secretly given £600,000 to Labour in other people’s names, in breach of electoral laws.

Mr Watt claims the scandal was not his fault and alleges Mr Brown ‘stabbed him in the back’ by pledging to stand by him, hours before branding him a criminal in public.

In the book, he writes: ‘“Ha bloody ha,” I thought. The PM has just publicly called me a criminal. Why doesn’t he just ring the Met himself?

'No10 badly wanted me charged, since it would cement their politically expedient characterisation of me as a renegade.’

Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there would be no charges against Mr Watt.

His book provides a damning insight into the on-off Election fiasco of autumn 2007, when Mr Brown had planned to use his political honeymoon after taking over from Tony Blair to call a snap poll but changed his mind at the last minute.

Mr Watt claims International Aid Minister Douglas Alexander, one of Mr Brown’s closest allies, told him one reason for wanting an early poll: ‘The truth is, Peter, we have spent ten years working with this guy, and we don’t actually like him.

'We have always thought the longer the British public had to get to know him, the less they would like him as well.’

Mr Watt said Mr Alexander used those words, or ‘very similar’, adding: ‘The sentiment was repeated many times [by] senior Labour figures.’
He also reveals the chaos caused when Mr Brown made his U-turn on the Election during a TV interview.

‘As he spoke, the fleet of limousines ordered at No10’s behest was circling Parliament Square.

'They had come . . . to collect Ministers and whisk them off on the campaign trail. They were sent away on a pretext, to spare us the humiliation of anyone spotting them lined up outside our offices.

‘We had already spent £1.2million. Somewhere in a mail depot were hundreds of sacks of personalised letters to voters in marginal seats – 1.5million envelopes waiting to go.’

Mr Alexander berated Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband for failing to prepare a manifesto.

Mr Watts says Mr Alexander complained: ‘You’d imagine that after ten years of waiting, and ten years complaining about Tony, we would have some idea of what we are going to do but we don’t seem to have any policies.’
Mr Watt paints a withering portrait of Mr Brown’s style of government. ‘Downing Street was a shambles. There was no vision, no strategy, no co-ordination.

'It was completely dysfunctional. Gordon had been so desperate to become Prime Minister that we all assumed he knew what he was going to do when he got there.

‘I imagined there was some grand plan, tucked away in a drawer. But if any such document existed, nobody seemed to know about it. Gordon was simply making it up as he went along.’

Mr Watt also highlights Mr Brown’s ‘weird’ behaviour. He recalls the moment the Prime Minister threw a tantrum at a No10 dinner party for US Democrat politicians after guests sat down without his permission.

Mr Watt said: ‘For the rest of the meal he was monosyllabic, sulking because he had lost control of the seating plan.

'The plates had not even been cleared when quite suddenly, without saying anything, he just got up and left. “He’s bonkers,” Vilma [Mr Watt’s wife] whispered. She was right.’

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Watt said Labour’s best chance of avoiding Election disaster is to get rid of Mr Brown.

‘It was very brave of Geoff Hoon and Pat Hewitt to put their heads above the parapet,’ he said.

‘Labour should have replaced Gordon six months ago. We have to have this out – and fast.

'It’s true that divided parties don’t win Elections, but leaders as unpopular as Gordon Brown don’t win them either.’

Blairite Mr Watt said it was nonsense for Mr Brown’s camp to claim there were no alternative leaders.

‘David and Ed Miliband, Alan Johnson, James Purnell and Andy Burnham all have great potential,’ he said.

‘Gordon is a big political figure but he lacks the emotional intelligence required by a modern leader.

'If you cannot connect to people you will fail. Gordon just doesn’t have those skills.'

Mr Watt remains bitter at the way he was treated by Mr Brown and Deputy Leader Harriet Harman over ‘Donorgate’.

He said: ‘A political decision was taken to circle the wagons – with me on the outside – to deflect the arrows coming Gordon and Harriet’s way.’

He added: ‘When Gordon became leader, nobody ever stopped to ask could he actually do the job.

'He soon defined himself as remote and a ditherer who was not up to the job.

‘Like everyone in the party I had great hopes for Gordon.

'But it quickly became apparent he had no plans, and it descended into shambles.’

Read about Gordon Brown



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Gordon Brown leads furious outcry as China executes British drugs mule by lethal injection

Executed: Akmal Shaikh was put to death this morning after being convicted of heroin smuggling

(left).Soohail Shaikh, left, and Nasir Shaikh, cousins of Akmal Shaikh, pictured together this morning in a street in Urumqi where the Briton was held

Supporters of British national Akmal Shaikh hold a vigil at the Chinese Embassy in London

Anger: Gordon Brown attacked Mr Shaikh's execution in the 'strongest' terms

Death prison: Shaikh was held and executed at Xishan detention centre in western China's Urumqi province

Father-of-three Mr Shaikh was arrested in Urumqi in September 2007 and charged with smuggling almost 9lbs of heroin

Gordon Brown today led condemnation of China for executing a mentally ill British man who had been convicted of drug smuggling.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was put to death by lethal injection just after 4am at Xishan detention centre in the western Urumqi province.

The father-of-five was buried immediately. He was the first European citizen to be put to death in China for 50 years.

In a statement shortly after Mr Shaikh's death, the prime minister said he condemned the exeuction 'in the strongest terms'.

He said he was 'appalled and disappointed' that persistent requests for clemency have not been granted.

'I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken,' he said.

'At this time our thoughts are with Mr Shaikh's family and friends and I send them our sincere condolences.'

David Cameron has also attacked the execution, saying he found the decision deplorable.

The British government has made 27 representations to the Chinese authorities about Mr Shaikh's case in the past two years.

A last ditch appeal from Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis also fell on deaf ears.

Beijing, however, remained defiant.

Spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry Jiang Yu said Britain's robust response risked souring diplomatic relations.

'No one has the right to to comment on China's judicial sovereignty,' she said.

'It is the common wish of people around the world to strike against the crime of drug trafficking.

'We express our strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the British Government's unreasonable criticism of the case.

'We urge the British to correct their mistake in order to avoid harming China-UK relations.'
The Chinese embassy in London said Mr Shaikh had 'no previous medical record' of mental illness and that his rights and interests had been properly respected.

In a statement, officials said the Briton had been convicted of 'serious' drug trafficking, adding: 'The amount of heroin he brought into China was 4,030g, enough to cause 26,800 deaths, threatening numerous families.'
Mr Shaikh, from Kentish Town, North London, was arrested in September 2007 and convicted of trying to smuggle 9lb of heroin, worth £250,000, into the remote western Chinese city of Urumqi, 2,000 miles from Beijing.

He insisted he was tricked into carrying the drug but was convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial.

Despite being sentenced to death, Mr Shaikh was not told about his impending execution by the Chinese authorities.
Instead, his cousins Suhail and Nasir Shaikh had to break the news yesterday when they visited him in prison.

In a statement after Mr Shaikh's execution, they said: 'We are deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed at the news of the execution of our beloved cousin, Akmal,' they said.

'This was carried out this morning despite repeated requests for clemency and a proper appraisal of Akmal's mental state.

'We are astonished at suggestions that Akmal himself should have provided evidence of his own fragile state of mind.

'We find it ludicrous that any mentally ill person should be expected to provide this, especially when this was apparently bipolar disorder, in which we understand the sufferer has a distorted view of the world, including his own condition.

'That this was regarded as sufficient grounds for refusal by the judicial authorities to order any mental health assessment is shocking to us.

'Despite our own and other pleas, the Chinese authorities have maintained their refusal to investigate Akmal's mental health.

'We are comforted that the authorities have confirmed that Akmal has been buried in accordance with his own and his family's wishes.'

His daughter Leilla Horsnell added: 'I am shocked and disappointed that the execution went ahead with no regards to my dad's mental health problems, and I struggle to understand how this is justice.'

The Chinese have also ignored repeated pleas from British-based prison charity Reprieve, who had worked on behalf of Mr Shaikh.

Speaking after his execution, the organisation's director Clive Stafford Smith said: 'Sad to say, I have watched six people die in execution chambers, and it is as ghastly as it is pointless.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1238454/A'Is the world somehow a better place today because China refused to show compassion for an obviously ill man?

'Of course not. China's refusal to even allow a proper medical evaluation is simply disgusting.'

Reprieve's legal director Sally Rowen had described Mr Shaikh as a 'gentle man who suffering from a tormenting illness.

'He fell through the cracks... as many people with mental illness do,' she added.

Mr Shaikh's case attracted support from mental health campaigners as well as those opposed to the death penalty.

'At this time our thoughts are with Mr Shaikh's family and friends and I send them our sincere condolences.'

Robert Westhead, spokesman for MDF, the Bipolar Organisation, described the execution as 'medieval rough justice' and an 'absolute tragedy'.
'How a society treats people affected by mental illness is always a good indicator of how civilised it is.

'The way the Chinese authorities have stubbornly failed to take account of this poor man's severe mental illness shows that China is still stuck in the dark ages.

'This execution is medieval rough justice gone badly wrong.'

Mr Shaikh's cousins visited him in jail for the last time yesterday.

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Suhail said: ‘Akmal had lost some weight but he was in high spirits when we first met him because he still believed he could appeal one more time and have his sentence overturned and be saved.

‘He did not know a date had been set for his execution, and he said he was still waiting for an imminent change of heart from the Chinese who would overturn his death sentence and pardon him.’

'We had to break the news to him and tell him that he was to be executed within 24 hours.

‘He did not seem to believe us but we told him the final decision had been passed, and that we had done all we could as a tight-knit, heartbroken family to save him.

‘It was apparent to us that he was suffering from a mental illness. The things he was saying were not the things you’d expect a normal person facing the death sentence to say.

'He was a little tearful at the end. He said he appreciated us being there. We had to be strong for him. We said we had not given up hope.’

The brothers looked solemn as they emerged from the prison hospital into falling snow. They were carrying Mr Shaikh's personal effects in a plastic bag.

As night fell in London, supporters held a candlelit vigil outside the Chinese embassy.

Tom Scott, a freelance theatre director from Catford, said he had become aware of the case through a Facebook group called Stop the Execution of Akmal Shaikh.

He said: 'I am appalled by this case. I am against the death penalty any way in all circumstances but I think this is a particularly bad case - where a man who from all reports, clearly is mentally ill and suffers from delusions was duped by a drugs gang into taking a case which contained heroin into China.

Maya Farr, an 18-year-old customer services representative was also present at the vigil. She said 1,600 people had signalled their support for the Facebook campaign.

'I am personally against the death penalty, but there are so many aspects to this case which we are really opposed to. His mental history has not been assessed.'
Reprieve said new witnesses had emerged following publicity about the case who backed up the defence claim about his mental illness.

Mr Shaikh was obsessed with recording a song that would usher in world peace, the organisation said.

Two British men, Paul Newberry and Gareth Saunders, both quoted by the organisation, said they had helped Mr Shaikh record a song in Poland and that it was clear that he was mentally ill.

Mr Newberry, a British national who lives in Poland, told Reprieve that Mr Shaikh was a 'very, very ill' person.

He said in a statement issued by the organisation: 'I was probably one of the last people who saw Akmal before he left Poland in August 2007.

'I met Akmal in spring 2007 when he started hanging around the tent city that protesting nurses had set up outside the Polish prime minister's offices in Warsaw. The protest attracted a range of 'colourful' characters and he was one of them.

'As I was British and was with a British friend, Akmal latched on to us. Immediately it was clear that he was mentally ill, although he was a very likeable person, friendly and very open.

'However, he was clearly suffering from delusions and it seemed to me he was a particularly severe case of manic depressive.

'I told him a number of times that he should see a doctor, that he was ill, but he just laughed.

'Any person would have been offended had he been a normal person not in the middle of a psychosis.'

He said Mr Shaikh had shown them lyrics to the song 'Run Little Rabbit' written on a paper napkin and tried to convince them it would be a hit.

He said: 'For a few weeks he pestered us until finally we agreed to record it with him.

'I have no idea who paid for the recording studio but I think he used his charm and persistence to persuade the owner to let him record the song.

'I can't imagine anyone singing worse than he did on that recording and we told him so, but he was on such a high, convinced that he would have a huge hit.

'We told him that he was crazy, that it was the worst thing we had ever heard, but he just laughed in our face and repeated that it would be huge.'


CHINA'S DEADLY RECORD

China accounts for nearly three quarters of the world's executions every year, according to human rights campaigners.

Figures from Amnesty International show a minimum of 7,000 death sentences were handed down in China in 2008, with 1,700 executions taking place.

Amnesty International said the Chinese authorities refused to make public national statistics on death sentences and executions and the real figure was 'undoubtedly higher'.

Steve Ballinger, a spokesman for Amnesty International, said: 'China accounts for 72% of the world's executions and China executes far more than any other country by an awfully long way.'

Under Chinese criminal law, a mental patient who commits a crime, and has not completely lost the ability to recognise or control his own conduct at the time, still has criminal responsibility but may be given a lighter punishment.

Mr Ballinger said Amnesty, which campaigns against the use of the death penalty, was concerned that trials in China fall below international fair trial standards.

He said Akmal Shaikh was 'very unlikely' to have received a fair trial.

Other areas of concern to Amnesty in China include restrictions on freedom of expression, and the frequent use of torture in custody - although he said there was no evidence that Shaikh had suffered this.

Although there was still a 'long way to go', he said there had been some gradual improvement, with China earlier this year stating that the Supreme People's Court had to review all death penalty cases.

According to Amnesty International, the Chinese authorities stated their intention in 2008 to increase the use of lethal injection as a 'more humane' method of execution than firing squad.

The organisation said China voted in December 2008 against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.




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Obama says 'unprecedented' deal reached on climate-but officials admit is not enought

Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered to cut Britain's carbon emissions by 42 per cent - 10 times the United States' proposed level

Greenpeace activists dressed in dinner suits are led away by security staff after turning up at the official state dinner in Copenhagen last night

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French PM gestures during meeting.President Barack Obama walks off of Air Force One at Copenhagen Airport , Kastrup, Denmark Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference.


Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad gestures during a press conference at the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen Friday Dec. 18, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is on its last scheduled day, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.


President Barack Obama speaks at the morning plenary session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009.U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on the podium during the plenary session at the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. President Obama says that the world's will to address climate change "hangs in the balance" and insists any deal must include transparency among nations.




Antti Kaartinen, center, a communications official responsible for protocol during the press conferences, is stopped by Iranian security guards as he tried to walk up to the podium, during Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's press conference at the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen Friday Dec. 18, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is on its last scheduled day, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.



"We have an agreement," Sarkozy told a news conference in Copenhagen after the meeting of 120 world leaders. He added: "The text we have is not perfect."

Under the accord, he said all countries including China would have to submit written plans for curbs in carbon dioxide emissions by January 2010. And he said that all countries had signed up for a plan to provide developing nations with $100 billion a year in aid by 2020.

President Barack Obama declared Friday a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the U.S., China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty.

"It is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time," he said near the conclusion of a 193-nation global warming summit. "We have come a long way, but we have much further to go."

The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."

The deal as described by Obama reflects some progress helping poor nations cope with climate change and getting China to disclose its actions to address the warming problem.

But it falls far short of committing any nation to pollution reductions beyond a general acknowledgment that the effort should contain global temperatures along the lines agreed to at a conference of the leading economic nations last July.

Obama suggested Friday's agreement among the five key countries would be adopted by the larger summit in its closing hours.

"I am leaving before the final vote," he said. "We feel confident we are moving in the direction of a final accord."

If the countries had waited to reach a full, binding agreement, "then we wouldn't make any progress," Obama said. In that case, he said, "there might be such frustration and cynicism that rather than taking one step forward we ended up taking two steps back."

The limited agreement by the U.S., China, Brazil, India and South Africa reflected the intense political and economic obstacles that had blocked a binding accord to restrict emissions of "greenhouse gases" believed to be causing a dangerous warming of the Earth.

The accord calls for the participating countries to list specific actions they have taken to control emissions and the commitments they are willing to make to achieve deeper reductions.

There would be a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases, a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity before Obama made his comments.

Obama said the five nation's pledges would be "subject to an international consultation" that will allow each country to "show the world what they're doing."

China's resistance to a verification mechanism had been one of the major sticking points for the U.S. during the two weeks of climate negotiations here.

"We're in this together, and we'll know who is meeting and not meeting the mutual obligations that are set forth," Obama said.

As for the U.S., he said, "We will not be legally bound by anything that took place here today," pre-emptively answering congressional critics who had warned repeatedly that Congress will have the final say in any U.S. emission reduction commitments.

The deal also would provide a mechanism to help poor countries pay for dealing with climate change.

The president had planned to spend only about nine hours in Copenhagen as the summit wrapped up after two weeks. But, as an agreement appeared within reach, he added extended his stay by more than six hours to attend a series of meetings aimed at brokering a deal.

"We are running short on time," Obama had told the summit as the clock was running out on its final day. "There has to be movement on all sides."

He met with other leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Late in the evening, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held talks with European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Asked how negotiations were going as he entered the meeting, Obama replied: "Always hopeful."

The direct talks between Obama and Wen underscored efforts to resolve differences that represent one of the major roadblocks in reaching a global climate deal. The U.S. has been insisting that China, the only nation that emits more heat-trapping gasses than the U.S., make its emissions-reduction pledges subject to international review.

Hours before his announcement of the limited agreement, without mentioning China specifically, Obama said, "I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and making sure we are meeting our commitments. That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory."

Obama indirectly acknowledged that some nations feel the United States is doing too little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and he urged leaders to accept a less-than-perfect pact. Meanwhile, he offered no new U.S. concessions.

"No country will get everything that it wants," Obama said.

It's possible that Obama's biggest success here will have nothing to do with the climate. He met with the Russian president and said afterward that the United States and Russia are "quite close" to a new nuclear arms control agreement to replace an expired Cold War-era arms control treaty.

The U.S. commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses mirrors legislation before Congress. It calls for 17 percent reduction in such pollution from 2005 levels by 2020 — the equivalent of 3 percent to 4 percent from the more commonly used baseline of 1990 levels. That is far less than the offers from the European Union, Japan and Russia.

Even that target was hard-won in a skittish Congress, and Obama has decided he can't go further without potentially souring final passage of the bill, approved in the House but not yet considered in the Senate. He also could imperil eventual Senate ratification of any global treaty that emerges next year.

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