SF has biggest income of parties

28 July 2011 Last updated at 15:39 GMT Sinn Fein continued to have the largest income of all the main parties in Northern Ireland last year - taking in more than ?1.2m.

The party spent less than it took in and remains in the black by ?76,960.

The figures, published by the Electoral Commission, also reveal that the DUP and the SDLP are in the red.

The Ulster Unionists show a healthier balance than previous years with income of around ?440,000 and a balance sheet in the black by around ?40,000.

UUP treasurer Mark Cosgrove said he was delighted his party "continued to show a good set of financial figures and looked forward to maintaining these in the future".

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DUP: Income of ?268,456; spent ?335,678 - net loss of ?67,222

Sinn Fein: Income of ?1,289,335; spent ?1,212,375 - ?76,960 in the black.

UUP: Income of ?440,949; spent ?398,295 - ?42,654 in the black.

SDLP: Income of ?346,946; spent ?413,238 - net loss of ?66,292

Meanwhile, the SDLP is refusing to comment on whether or not some staff have been given notice.

The party's chief executive Michael Savage told the BBC that the SDLP did not comment on staffing matters.

He added the party's financial position was similar to other organisations across Europe especially on the back of election campaigns.

"I acknowledge the party has a deficit which we are addressing as an organisation and a plan is in place to deal with that," he said.

Accounts were also filed by the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland.

It took in ?408,127 and spent ?391,359 leaving it in the black by ?16,768.

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MoD plans 7,000 civilian job cuts

29 July 2011 Last updated at 12:55 GMT The latest cuts will bring numbers at the MoD down to about 53,000 civilian posts by 2020 Thousands of civil servants are to lose their jobs at the Ministry of Defence, in addition to some 25,000 posts that were already set to be cut.

The Guardian has seen a letter, sent by the department's top civil servant, which says a further 7,000 civilian jobs are to be axed.

Union leaders have called the decision "shameful" and defence officials have also expressed concerns.

The MoD said the cuts would ensure the front line had maximum funding.

The letter says the MoD needs to "bear down further on non-front line costs".

The cuts were not mentioned in Defence Secretary Liam Fox's last statement to Parliament, which revealed significant extra cuts to Army numbers.

The MoD is already trying to cut some 25,000 civilian posts over the next few years, as announced last October in the defence review.

Questions remain

That review outlined the future shape and size of Britain's armed forces, with defence spending set to fall by eight per cent over four years.

The decision taken to close more jobs will bring numbers at the MoD down by around a third over a period of nine years - to about 53,000 civilian posts by 2020.

The letter outlining the further job losses is signed by the permanent secretary, Ursula Brennan, and is being sent to all civilian staff.

It argues that the cuts are necessary and concedes that the move will raise questions which cannot "be answered immediately".

Continue reading the main story Jo Coburn BBC political correspondent

This comes from a letter from the permanent secretary and it follows the emergence of a budget shortfall.

A few months ago it emerged there was an overspend of ?1bn just for the last year but they are now saying that from 2015, the overspend could be ?10bn.

The unions argue it's political. They say there is no need to get rid of so many people in civilian jobs. They say it's ideological shrinkage of the public sector in the defence department.

But the permanent secretary says she will explain why the cuts are necessary (later) and they are in order to bring non-front line costs down.

The overspend comes from an internal review at the the MoD of their financial liabilities over the next decade.

It says the risk of cost-overruns on equipment has been understated in the SDSR (strategic defence review).

It expresses a hope that many of the job losses will be achieved by "natural wastage", with "compulsory redundancy" only being used as a last resort.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said it was "totally unreasonable" for the MoD to be cutting so many posts when efforts were still being made to reduce the previously announced cull of jobs.

The union's general secretary Mark Serwotka said cutting so many civilian and military jobs could put lives at risk.

"This is a shameful way to treat anybody, far less the people who serve on the front line, and those who support them.

"Since the defence review announcement in October, PCS has been thwarted at every turn in our attempts to find out where these cuts will be made and what impact it will have on the front line.

"How can the MoD announce more job cuts when they have no idea how they will run the department just now?"

Mr Serwotka said the union had been working on a programme for defence that identified and reduced waste and freed up service personal to serve in the front line by "civilianising" military posts it sees as non-essential.

He added that according to the MoD's own records, it spends approximately ?6bn per annum on external expenditure such as consultants.

An MoD spokesman said: "The government has tackled the ?38bn black hole in the MoD's finances, delivering substantial savings through difficult but necessary decisions.

"The aim of these cost savings is to ensure that the maximum funding is available for the front line.

"We hope to achieve these efficiencies through natural wastage wherever possible with compulsory redundancy programmes serving only as a last resort."

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Griffin challenged

27 July 2011 Last updated at 16:47 GMT Nick Griffin squeezed home narrowly ahead of his rival in the BNP's ballot A ferocious "war of the roses" over the leadership of the far-right British National Party has left it badly split and potentially mortally wounded.

Nick Griffin squeaked home by just nine votes in this week's national ballot of party members to retain the chairmanship he has held since 1999.

Griffin, who sits as Member of the European Parliament for the North West region, faced a strong challenge from the other side of the Pennines.

His only rival in the contest was the party's other MEP - Yorkshire and the Humber's Andrew Brons.

"Probably, this was the worst mandate the Chairman could win," Brons wrote to his supporters on his BNP Ideas website shortly after the result was announced.

"In effect, the party is split from head to toe and there remain grave questions of doubt over the fitness of many existing officers of the party to exercise control over its operations."

It is a far cry from the high point of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections when Griffin and Brons shocked the political establishment by mustering enough popular support to take the party's first seats in a UK national election.

Their European seats were both won by the narrowest of margins, but it raised expectations that the self-proclaimed defenders of the "British indigenous population" could be on the verge of further breakthroughs.

The time for division and disruption is over; now is the time to heal”

End Quote Nick Griffin Griffin defiant

Instead, Griffin's disastrous appearance on the BBC's Question Time a few months later and an embarrassing result in the 2010 general election has led to vicious infighting which could yet see the BNP implode.

In his own statement issued shortly after the election Nick Griffin said: "The time for division and disruption is over; now is the time to heal. Now is the time to move on. Now is the time to get back to work.

"We have a party to build and a nation to save. Let us go forward together!"

Griffin's rallying call might be too late.

In an online video election webcast recorded at the start of the campaign, Andrew Brons said members and activists had been voting with their feet for at least and year and leaving the party.

'Civil war'

At one stage he claimed a third of the membership and two thirds of its activists had left because of what he called Griffin's "unnecessary civil war" to stifle opposition.

The BNP has always been cagey about its total membership but this election for its national leader reveals just how small it has become. The number of ballot papers returned was just 2,316.

In fact, across every council in Yorkshire, the party could muster just 50 candidates at the 2011 elections earlier this year. Not a single one mustered enough votes to become a councillor.

The nightmare is not over for Nick Griffin or the BNP.

In his latest blog "Reply to Dissatisfied Supporters" Andrew Brons issues a clear warning: "If the leadership wants peace, he can have peace and we can get on with work that will contribute towards our substantive aims.

"If on the other hand if he were to choose war, he would meet an equal and opposite force."

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Labour publishes media meetings

30 July 2011 Last updated at 10:13 GMT Ed Balls met Rebekah Brooks and Will Lewis (right) in February The Labour Party has published a list of the shadow cabinet's meetings with the media.

Ed Miliband had already published the list of his meetings with newspaper proprietors and editors since he became Labour Party leader in September 2010.

The new details come after documents released earlier this week disclosed meetings with cabinet ministers.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls met Rebekah Brooks and Will Lewis from News International in February.

He also met the former News of the World editor Colin Myler at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester last September and attended a News International reception at the conference.

Mr Balls met Mr Myler again in March and June and attended a News International reception as recently as 16 June.

The shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper attended that same reception and the one at the party conference.

She also met Mr Myler in September.

Shadow cabinet office minister and minister for the Olympics Tessa Jowell met Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth socially in London and Oxfordshire several times over Christmas 2010. Rebekah Brooks was also at two of these gatherings.

Summer party

Ms Jowell also attended Elisabeth Murdoch's summer party in Burford, Oxfordshire on 3 July 2011.

The Tories have already given full details of their meetings with the Murdochs and other media chiefs

The shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward also met Ms Brooks socially in Oxfordshire on Boxing Day and again, in France, in June.

Eleven of Mr Miliband's 32 meetings were with News International executives or editors.

It has previously been reported that the Prime Minister David Cameron had 26 separate meetings with executives from Mr Murdoch's companies since last May's election.

Mr Miliband had 15 meetings or social contacts with News International executives over the same period, while the Chancellor George Osborne had 16.

Mr Cameron has ordered all ministerial meetings with media proprietors, senior editors and executives to be published.

It comes amid fears politicians have become too close to the Murdoch empire.

Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg published a list of their meetings earlier this month.

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Mud, wet and leers

29 July 2011 Last updated at 01:01 GMT By Justin Parkinson Political reporter, BBC News As David Cameron prepares to unwind on a summer break in Italy, he and his fellow party leaders will be hoping to avoid prying camera lenses. It was always thus, as these snatched pictures of a bathing Winston Churchill reveal.

Forget Brad and Angelina.

When it comes to selling magazines even Posh and Becks had nothing on the British power couple of 100 years ago: Win and Clem.

Later revered by many as Britain's greatest prime minister, Winston Churchill had, for a few glorious days, the most looked-at beach body in the empire.

The svelte home secretary and his wife Clementine appeared on the cover of society bible Tatler in October 1911 dressed only in their swimming costumes.

The 36-year-old politician frolicked in the waves and lazed on a canoe with his "charming" 26-year-old spouse and their friend Captain Jervis, as they holidayed in Dieppe, northern France.

Tatler boasted that its "ever-ubiquitous" photographer had been "fortunate enough" to capture them at play in the chilly waters of the Channel.

As the UK's parliamentarians prepare to get away for this year's break, current Home Secretary Theresa May will be hoping she does not suffer the same fate over the coming weeks.

Indeed, in the 24-hour media age, seclusion - not exposure - seems to be a paramount concern.

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced he will be spending two weeks away from prying eyes at a Tuscan farmhouse on a private estate, while his deputy Nick Clegg will holiday with his wife's family in Spain.

Slow exposure

Labour leader Ed Miliband is preparing to get away to an undisclosed location over the next few days, once he recovers from a nose operation.

So, why was Mr Churchill apparently so unbothered by the press attention?

His briniest hour: Churchill trod carefully as he emerged from the Channel

Tatler noted that the Churchills were enjoying themselves "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife".

But was there a traitor within his own crowd?

"Hand-held cameras were in common use by this time," said Colin Harding, curator of photographic technology at the National Media Museum. "They were also getting quite fast. It wasn't a case of someone with a large black cloth over their head standing there for several minutes to take a photo.

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The equivalent today would be Hello! magazine featuring George Osborne on the beach in Cannes”

End Quote John Walton Journal of Tourism History "A lot of the people in Dieppe at the time would have had cameras, so it would not have been that noticeable if someone was taking pictures on the beach.

"Magazines like Tatler, which traded in society gossip, often bought in pictures from their readers, so it's not beyond the bounds of reason that Churchill was snapped by a member of the public with a hand-held camera. It could even have been a friend or a member of his own party."

Mr Harding doubts it was a set-up by Churchill to boost his image.

"The whole point of public figures in that period was they wanted to appear responsible and respectable. Someone pictured cavorting around in the waves didn't present the right image.

"Perhaps Churchill was quite naive. A modern politician, more aware of the power of pictures, would try to appear in public while on holiday only when it suits them and in a carefully arranged way.

"If it was David Cameron in his swimsuit, the picture would be exactly as he wanted it."

'Really posh'

During the early 20th Century, Dieppe was still a fairly fashionable - but not quite "top drawer" - destination for the British upper classes.

It was only a few hours away on the ferry - not the ideal location for a peaceful getaway for someone as famous as Churchill.

Modern politicians are more lens-aware than their predecessors

However, John Walton, editor of the Journal of Tourism History, said the "culture of the paparazzi" hadn't developed then. "There weren't so many picture magazines to fill. Politicians weren't as worried about being plastered over the press as they are now.

"You didn't have people going around Europe, shooting their telephoto lenses at people."

The location perplexes Dr Walton as much as the picture.

"Dieppe at the time was quite a high-class resort but it wasn't in the same class as Biarritz, where Edward VII had been a regular visitor. That was really posh and it's where I would have expected Churchill to go."

'Painful'

There is some mockery in Tatler, perhaps a double-entendre satirising Mr Churchill's legendary desire to rise to the top of politics.

As he walks gingerly up Dieppe's pebbly beach in one picture, the caption reads: "The Climber: The Home Secretary's Painful Progress."

The 1911 Tatler remains a curiosity. It shows an era before long-distance travel was easily possible, even for the rich.

It was also a transitional time when mass photography was beginning but image manipulation and publicity management were unheard of.

Today's picture magazines focus on that modern creation: celebrities. They hardly existed 100 years ago.

"It's quite amazing really," said Dr Walton. "The equivalent today would be like Hello! magazine featuring George Osborne on the beach in Cannes as its cover."

Now there's a thought.

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