Candidate for Labour brands PM the worst May 4, 2010 GORDON Brown was left red-faced yesterday after one of his own candidates branded him the “worst Prime Minister we have had in this country.” Brown had been furiously campaigning after a rallying speech on Monday appeared to galvanise the Labour support. But less than 24 hours later – typical of an election campaign that has [...]
Unite gives Labour £1m but City money is on a Tory win May 4, 2010 UNITE the Union handed Labour £1m last month in a desperate bid to stave off meltdown at tomorrow’s general election, new figures reveal. The workers’ body was joined by Sir Ronald Cohen, known as a pioneer of British venture capital for his founding role at Apax Partners, who gave Gordon Brown’s embattled government £250,000. The [...]
City: Hung house is most likely result May 4, 2010 THE City believes a hung parliament with the Tories as the biggest party is the most likely election result. A staggering 58.3 per cent of the City A.M./PHI panel believe there will be a Tory minority after the votes are counted. A Tory overall majority came second in the poll, with 37.5 per cent of [...]
Banks and champagne are out, but the Tory big beast is still standing May 4, 2010 KEN Clarke has gone awol. He left the last campaign stop at the same time as his chief of staff, who has long since arrived, but is nowhere to be seen. “He insists on driving himself,” one aide tells me, with an exasperated look. Eventually, forty-five minutes after we’re supposed to meet, he storms into [...]
BP launches a relief plan to plug oil leak May 4, 2010 BP launched its campaign to prevent one of the world’s worst environmental disasters yesterday by stepping up efforts to stop oil from further flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The British energy giant started drilling a relief well with hopes of intercepting and isolating the spillage. More than 200,000 gallons of oil have flowed into [...]
Aberdeen warns of a hung parliament as profits treble May 4, 2010 ABERDEEN Asset Management warned of the perils of a hung parliament yesterday even as it delighted markets by tripling its pre-tax profits. Chief executive Martin Gilbert told City A.M. the board was “very pleased” with the 181 per cent jump in underlying earnings to £92.6m in the six months to 31 March. But Gilbert said: [...]
Essar Energy makes lacklustre start to life on London markets May 4, 2010 FIRST-day trading in shares in Essar Energy was weak yesterday, leaving the closing price of the new stock at 389.5p, below an already reduced issue price of 420p a share. Dealers said that the group, which is 76 per cent owned by its Indian parent, had inadvertently chosen a bad day for first day dealings [...]
UK factory growth hits a 16-year high May 4, 2010 ACTIVITY in Britain’s hard-hit manufacturing sector grew at its fastest rate last month since September 1994 thanks to a sharp increase in the growth rate of new exports, a leading survey showed yesterday. The Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed that factory activity rose to 58 in April from 57.3, well above the 50 [...]
Recruitment rise set to spark return to City poaching May 4, 2010 THE recruitment market continued to improve in April, although the pace slowed after reaching a 12-year peak in March, according to a report published yesterday. In its job report, recruitment trade body the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and accountants KPMG said both permanent and short-term staffing continued to increase, showing clear signs of economic [...]
Shop prices rose last month but stability forecast May 4, 2010 SHOP price inflation rose to two per cent in April on a year earlier compared to 1.2 per cent in March, according the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Rising costs as a result of higher commodity prices were the main reason behind the increase. The BRC’s director-general Stephen Robertson said: “With commodity [...]