GORDON BROWN

The 31 people who lost virtually everything but the clothes on their backs when their apartments burned Saturday morning came back to the Isles at East Millenia complex on Monday.

The Treasury sells £1.2bn of shares back to NatWest Group after it bailed out the bank in 2008.

Dr Gregor Smith and Olympic swimmer Duncan Scott are among Scots recognised by the Queen.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is walking a political tightrope as he faces increasing attacks from both friends and enemies amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.

Vatican Pope G20 Modi India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, is greeted by the Head of the Papal Household, Mons. Leonardo Sapienza as he arrives for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca) (Riccardo De Luca)The Latest on the group of 20 summit taking place in Rome:VATICAN CITY — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Pope Francis to visit the country, after plans for a visit in 2017 fell apart. In a tweet, Modi wrote: “Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. They join 10 million doses that have already been delivered, and form part of Britain’s commitment to share 100 million doses with needier nations by mid-2022.

Vatican Pope G20 Modi India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, is greeted by the Head of the Papal Household, Mons. Leonardo Sapienza as he arrives for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca) (Riccardo De Luca)The Latest on the group of 20 summit taking place in Rome:VATICAN CITY — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Pope Francis to visit the country, after plans for a visit in 2017 fell apart. In a tweet, Modi wrote: “Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. They join 10 million doses that have already been delivered, and form part of Britain’s commitment to share 100 million doses with needier nations by mid-2022.

Britain Politics Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets with fundraisers for the Royal British Legion and purchases a poppy in front of 10 Downing in London, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. Johnson made the announcement as he arrived in Rome for a summit of Group of 20 leaders, which starts Saturday. The U.K. says 10 million doses have been sent to the United Nations-backed COVAX vaccine-sharing program, and 10 million more will follow in the coming weeks. They join 10 million doses that have already been delivered, and form part of Britain’s commitment to share 100 million doses with needier nations by mid-2022. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a World Health Organization health envoy, has urged G-20 nations to speed things up and airlift unused doses to the developing world.

Presidents Joe Biden and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have discussed a U.S.-brokered deal between pharmaceutical maker Moderna and the African Union to make up to 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to the continent.

British lawmakers have failed to force a vote on the government’s cut to foreign aid spending, but may get a chance to debate the contentious decision on Tuesday.

Royal advisors want the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to look like they are "residents" in Scotland under plans to boost the Union. Kate and William are reportedly keen to build on the success of their recent tour of Scotland, which saw them visit their old home of St Andrews, due to royal fears UK politicians are "losing" the country. The couple are expected to follow up with more visits north of the border in the near future. The Duke also held private meetings with Gordon Brown, who recently

Tory rebels have urged the Government to re-introduce its 0.7 per cent foreign aid pledge next year or face defeat in the Commons. Over 40 MPs, including former Prime Minister Theresa May, are understood to be prepared to back an amendment on Monday that would require ministers to reverse their cut in the foreign aid budget to 0.5 per cent of national income. However, they have offered the Government an "olive branch" by accepting a delay to its reintroduction until next year, by which time the

Gordon Brown has warned that the type of "clenched fist nationalism" seen in the 20th Century has reappeared across Europe in parties like "Le Pens’ remodeled French National Front”, as he cautioned of the damage a second Scottish referendum could do to the UK. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, wants another independence vote to be staged by the end of 2023, with SNP ministers hoping that work on another referendum can start in earnest later this year. The former Prime Minister said: "I forese

Leading Tories have backed Gordon Brown’s plan to save the UK, after the SNP told Boris Johnson that a new referendum would happen on Nicola Sturgeon’s timetable. William Hague, the former Conservative leader, said that Mr Brown’s proposal for a permanent forum to hand the UK nations and regions more influence “merits serious consideration”. Andy Street, the West Midlands mayor, also backed the idea. The former Labour Prime Minister this week launched a new campaign to persuade “middle Scotland” to stick with the UK and declared he is not afraid of a new referendum, following the SNP’s landslide election win. He believes "patriotic" Scots, who are neither nationalists or committed unionists, will decide the future of the country and can be persuaded to reject separation. The UK Government does not plan to allow a new referendum to take place, but Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, dodged questions over whether Tory ministers would seek to block a new vote organised by Holyrood in the Supreme Court. Mr Brown believes a new body should be set up which would see the Prime Minister, UK First Ministers and regional mayors collaborate on key priority areas for Britain. “The Prime Minister may be stalling but support for change is growing,” Mr Brown, who welcomed support from the two Conservatives, said. “That forum, if made permanent, could be a first step to a new constitutional settlement for the UK.” In the Commons on Tuesday, Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said there was a clear mandate for a new referendum. He added: "It's the people of Scotland and our Parliament that will determine when that independence referendum will take place." He told Mr Johnson: "The Prime Minister needs to reflect on this reality. A fight with democracy is a fight he will never, not ever, win."

Gordon Brown has said he is not afraid of a new independence referendum as he launched a campaign to persuade "middle Scotland" to stick with the UK. On Monday, the former Prime Minister set out plans to transform his pro-UK Our Scottish Future think tank into a campaigning organisation to make a "patriotic, progressive, and principled" case for the union to the 40 per cent of Scots he believes hold the key to the country's future. Following the SNP's landslide election victory, he predicted that the unionist side would prevail in any new referendum given Nicola Sturgeon's failure to address key questions about the implications of separation. However, he warned that Boris Johnson's "muscular unionism" strategy, which involves the Government bypassing Holyrood to encroach in normally devolved areas, would backfire because most people want more co-operation between Edinburgh and London. Mr Brown said his research showed four in 10 Scots were neither staunch nationalists or unionists. While members of this group generally felt more Scottish than British and preferred Ms Sturgeon to Mr Johnson, they did not want to be forced to choose between their identities.

Inequality will "last until doomsday" under the SNP because Nicola Sturgeon is obsessed with waging "a war against the Union" rather than improving the lives of ordinary Scots, Gordon Brown has said. Mr Brown, a former Labour prime minister, said nationalists would not tackle the "crime" of child poverty, which the First Minister has insisted will be a priority if she is re-elected, because in reality they spend "all their waking hours trying to change our borders". Scottish Labour deployed its biggest name on the eve of the Holyrood elections at a pre-election "drive-in" rally in a car park in Glasgow Southside, where Anas Sarwar is going head-to-head with Ms Sturgeon. In a passionate speech, Mr Brown – seen as having played an influential role in defeating the separatists at the 2014 referendum – repeatedly attacked the SNP’s record in government. He said the party had been unable to address problem with mental health services, NHS waiting lists, social care and plummeting standards in education over their 14 years in government, so would "never solve the problems now" amid the challenges of the Covid pandemic. "We want to end child poverty, the SNP want to end the United Kingdom," Mr Brown, 70, told Labour activists. "They spend all their waking hours trying to change our borders, we spend all our waking hours trying to change society. "They're fighting a war against the Union, we're fighting a war against poverty, deprivation, ill health, illiteracy. I tell you this – given their obsession with independence, economic inequality and social injustice would last until doomsday if the SNP is all that confronts it."

The controversy over former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s lobbying on behalf of a now-bankrupt financial services firm has deepened.

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 11, 2020 file photo, pedestrians wearing face masks pass the Bank of England in London. The Bank of England has apologized for the links past governors of the institution had with slavery. The decision comes after two British companies on Thursday, June 18 promised to financially support projects assisting minorities after being called out for past roles in the slave trade. The decision comes after two British companies on Thursday promised to financially support projects assisting minorities after being called out for past roles in the slave trade. It reveals that many businesses, buildings and art collections that still exist today were funded by the proceeds of the slave trade.