General Election 2015: Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood launches inquiry into leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon backed Cameron over Miliband for PM April 4, 2015 The cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood has ordered an inquiry into a leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon said David Cameron would be preferable as Prime Minister to Labour leader Ed Miliband. The Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP said the claims, published in the Daily Telegraph from a leaked [...]
David Cameron courts first-time buyers as 50,000 sign on to home discount scheme April 3, 2015 Over 50,000 people have signed up to the government's programme to give first-time buyers a 20 per cent discount on their new home. An extension of the controversial Help to Buy initiative, the programme means new properties up to £250,000 and £450,000 in London will be subject to deep discounts. However, only those under the [...]
Leaders’ debate: Why Nigel Farage failed to break through with HIV claim April 3, 2015 Last night's rare spectacle of seven party leaders tearing each other apart on live TV proved more entertaining than the pundits had feared. Instead of a two hour bora-thon, sparks flew as the seven leaders accused each other of everything from economic incompetence to conspiracies over support for mass immigration. But perhaps the surprise loser of the [...]
TV leaders’ debate 2015: Here’s why Nicola Sturgeon won for the SNP April 3, 2015 Last night's seven-way political slug-fest was a sight to see in British politics. The only parallel to ITV's leaders' debate spectacle are Presidential primaries where a host of candidates battle it out for the party's nomination. But after all the pre-scripted answers and not so clever comebacks the SNP's leader Nicola Sturgeon emerged triumphant. Out of four [...]
Boris Johnson MP hopeful vs Boris Johnson London mayor: Things are about to get confusing (at least on Twitter) April 2, 2015 Things are about to get confusing for Boris Johnson. The London mayor, who is also campaigning as the Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has just set up his own “personal” Twitter account to plug his efforts to return to the House of Commons. He's tweeted three times so far from the new [...]
April Fools’ Day 2015: The best (and worst) jokes from BMW, Sun Life, Confused.com, Richard Branson and the London Eye April 1, 2015 Alright, so this year the various political weirdnesses (Joey Essex interviewing Nick Clegg, anyone?) have caused an air of ridiculousness to hang over Westminster for several weeks now – but outside the London bubble, the once-a-year gag fest that is April Fools' Day has kicked off in earnest. Here are some of the best (and [...]
Tidjane Thiam earnt £11.8m in last year as Prudential’s chief executive March 31, 2015 Outgoing Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam received £11.8m in his final year at the company, the insurer revealed yesterday. The vast majority of that came from long-term incentive awards – those payouts gave him £8.3m. Combined with a salary of just over £1m, pension contributions of almost £400,000 and a bonus of £2.1m, the boss [...]
Warren Buffett: Grexit could be good for eurozone March 31, 2015 Warren Buffett believes a Greek exit from the eurozone could be beneficial for the region. The legendary investor and chairman of holding company Berkshire Hathaway waded into the issue currently dominating headlines of business publications across the continent. During a wide-ranging interview on US news channel CNBC, Buffett discussed electronic car manufacturers Tesla, the proposed [...]
David Cameron’s Heat Magazine interview: Here’s everything we didn’t want to know March 31, 2015 With the polls showing Labour neck and neck, neither of the party leaders can afford missed beats or wasted interviews. To that end, David Cameron decided to let Heat magazine's editor-in-chief, Lucie Cave, into the heart of Downing Street for a grilling that would put Paxo to shame. Here's a sample of what we found [...]
Tesla share price jumps after Elon Musk teases new product line March 30, 2015 Elon Musk tweets, markets react. Tesla Motors saw its share price rise by over three per cent today after its founder, billionaire investor and inventor Elon Musk, tweeted that the company would be unveiling a "major new product line" next month. Musk added that the product would diverge from Tesla's main business of designing, manufacturing and selling electric [...]