David Miliband yesterday denied plotting against his brother in an ongoing feud over the Labour leadership.

The ex-foreign secretary called for the party to unite behind Ed - and dismissed reports that he was hoping for his brother to fail as "soap opera".
The older Miliband said: "I have moved on from the leadership election.
"Ed won, I stand fully behind him and so should everyone else.
"I called for unity last October and I repeat that now."
The latest wave of speculation over the brothers' relationship was sparked by an unauthorised biography alleging that the fallout from last year's contest was far worse than either has admitted.
David is said to have effectively accused his younger brother of lying - and the claims have fuelled doubts about Ed Miliband's future at the helm of the party.
Last week's leak of a text of the victory address David planned to deliver did nothing to dampen rumours of divisions.
 But yesterday, he said: "We all have our part to play supporting Ed and the frontbench team to ensure we expose this Government for their reckless policies. "The rest is soap opera of which I want no part and the public have no interest." But meanwhile, supporters of David were accused yesterday of plotting against brother Ed.
Labour health spokesman Diane Abbott said: "You have a group of people who supported David Miliband and who cannot believe he lost and they are endlessly briefing against him.
"This is just malice from people who cannot believe David lost.
Her comments came as Labour figures said Ed must "raise his game" or risk facing a leadership challenge.
One shadow Cabinet minister said the party were "in a miserable place". Speaking on condition of anonymity, he voiced fears that Ed was yet not up to the job.
The source said: "Ed has to step up to the mark, make more impact and do something to break through. There's genuine concern it's not working out and he's not making an impact.
"The electorate aren't persuaded by him, he's got a long way to go and he needs to up his game."
Other frontbenchers said Ed Miliband has until next May's London and local elections to improve - or face a challenge.
But Abbott was withering about the suggestion that David would have made a better leader.
She said: "The idea you replace Ed for David is nonsense. What would the public think? "You get rid of one Miliband and replace him with another?" In a further blow to the Labour leader yesterday, an opinion poll revealed that two out of five Labour supporters believed electing Ed had been the wrong decision.

Two senior politicians have contacted police after a private investigator was accused in Parliament of targeting public figures for a newspaper.

Ex-ministers Lord Mandelson and Jack Straw want to know what information Scotland Yard has about Jonathan Rees, who worked for the News of the World.

The Met Police has revealed it is investigating claims of computer hacking, as well as phone-hacking.

Mr Rees's lawyer said his client "made many legal enquiries" in the 1990s.

Lord Mandelson told The Independent: "I have contacted the Met Police today to ask them what information they may hold from current or previous investigations."

He added: "It isn't acceptable to keep pointing the finger at one newspaper when clearly the use of unlawful means of investigating was, or is, widespread.

"This is a bigger issue than the wrongdoing of one rogue investigator and that's why this whole issue should be pursued more widely."

Private e-mails

Mr Straw told the paper: "I have written to the Metropolitan Police to ask exactly what evidence they have as this is the first I have heard of it."

Scotland Yard's six-person unit running Operation Tuleta was set up following a Panorama programme in February that accused News of the World Irish edition editor Alex Marunchak of obtaining the private e-mails of ex-British intelligence officer Ian Hurst in 2006.

Mr Marunchak, who left the paper later in 2006, denied involvement.

The Met unit is looking into this and other claims resulting from the Panorama programme.


Trinity Mirror's position is clear. Our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) code of conduct”

Trinity Mirror
It has also emerged that Mr Rees, who was accused by an MP of covert surveillance for News International, also worked for the Daily Mirror.

Papers seen by the BBC about his work for the Mirror show no illegality.

Leaked documents obtained by the BBC show Jonathan Rees was paid by the Mirror for work in 1998 and 1999 researching information on figures including Peter Mandelson, Alistair Campbell, Will Carling, Bank of England governors and a production company owned by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

The papers, from a computer of Mr Rees's company Southern Investigations, are among those currently held by police and do not demonstrate any illegality.

A statement released by Mr Rees's lawyer said his client had "made many legal enquiries (eg electoral roll, Companies House) for many newspapers during the 1990s".

Hacking scandal

It added that the documents had been unlawfully obtained by the BBC, "almost certainly from police to distract attention from police failings".

A statement by the Mirror's parent company Trinity Mirror said: "Many years ago some of our journalists used Southern Investigations. They were last used in 1999.

"Trinity Mirror's position is clear. Our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) code of conduct."

During a House of Lords debate on Thursday, Lord Prescott called for the government to hold an independent public inquiry into the hacking scandal.

Lord Prescott, an alleged victim of phone hacking, said a number of UK institutions - including the police - had been "polluted" by the "criminal activity by our press".

'Wholly inaccurate allegations'

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Tom Watson MP accused Mr Rees of carrying out covert surveillance for News International that had targeted former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In response to the allegations, News International said: "It is well documented that Jonathan Rees and Southern Investigations worked for a whole variety of newspaper groups.

"With regards to Tom Watson's specific allegations, we believe these are wholly inaccurate."

The Guardian newspaper said Kate Middleton - now the Duchess of Cambridge - Prince Edward, the Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and former Home Secretary Jack Straw were all believed to have been victims of hacking.

Scotland Yard confirmed it had received several allegations of breaches of privacy since January that were being investigated.

On Tuesday, News International formally apologised in court to the actress Sienna Miller for hacking into several of her mobile phones.

The Met reopened its inquiry - known as Operation Weeting - in January into claims that staff at News International's News of the World newspaper had hacked into the phone messages of celebrities and other public figures.

The Treasury has speeded up access to £2.7bn worth of new borrowing powers for the Scottish government in an early concession to Alex Salmond's nationalist government.

The Treasury has speeded up access to £2.7bn worth of new borrowing powers for the Scottish government in an early concession to Alex Salmond's nationalist government.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said allowing the Scottish government to use part of those borrowing powers in advance – helping it finance a new bridge over the Forth and a new hospital in Glasgow – was evidence of the respect agenda being pursued by the Westminster government.

But Clegg gave a clear indication that the UK government was lukewarm about Salmond's demands for the Scottish government to be given powers over corporation tax, which raises £2.8bn a year in Scotland, mirroring similar proposals already being investigated for Northern Ireland.

Speaking after meeting Salmond at the first minister's office in Edinburgh, Clegg said the UK government would study carefully the Scottish government proposals on corporation tax and excise duty but said it was already getting "very considerable" new powers on taxation and borrowing worth £12bn a year.

The full borrowing powers, to borrow £2.2bn for capital spending and £500m for revenue spending, would be in force by 2013. The Treasury would announce how much Salmond could borrow in advance shortly.

Clegg said: "The principle of further tax devolution is something we clearly believe in, otherwise we wouldn't be piloting legislation for the Scottish parliament, but there's a lot of questions [about corporation tax], and I asked the first minister a lot of questions about how would it be funded, how would it work, not least in the context of where we in the British government are bringing it down dramatically, by 5% over coming years.

"What business leaders are telling me is that they're not interested in a patchwork of different corporation taxes across the UK, but just low corporation tax, full stop, and that's exactly what we're concentrating on delivering in the coalition government."

Clegg gently distanced himself from controversial proposals by his Lib Dem cabinet colleague and Scottish secretary Michael Moore this week that the UK government would likely insist on a second referendum on independence, to allow Scottish voters a vote on the precise terms of independence.

Moore's proposal has been ridiculed by the Scottish government and Scottish Tories, and been played down by Willie Rennie, the Scottish Lib Dem leader.

Clegg said Moore "was giving a very fair and accurate description of the legal and constitutional position as it presently is.

"A lot of people in Scotland will be lost in the constitutional and legal detail, quite a lot of it arcane, because what they really want to know is not so much the vehicle for this or that decision, but what is the choice ... What most people are interested in is what's the question, what's the choice?"

After the meeting, Salmond said he was still hopeful that the UK government would add further powers to the Scotland bill, which currently gives Scotland power over income tax rates this autumn.

His ministers would publish much more detailed proposals about devolving corporation tax and excise duty, getting even greater borrowing powers, and taking control over the Crown Estate's marine and land holdings in Scotland and setting up a Scottish digital television channel over the next few months.

Salmond also confirmed he was open to proposals to ask two questions in the independence referendum. The question on independence would be clear and unambiguous but he could add a further option, offering much greater financial autonomy for Scotland but remaining within the UK.

"There's no question of us doing anything other than 'yes' or 'no' [on independence] but the question of us adding another proposition is still open," he said.

DAVID Cameron's Tories were plunged into scandal yesterday after an up-and-coming MP was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

DAVID Cameron's Tories were plunged into scandal yesterday after an up-and-coming MP was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.
Andrew Bridgen, the married 46-year-old MP for North-West Leicestershire, right, was released on bail after being held by police in Westminster.
It is understood the alleged incident involved a 29-year-old woman and took place in the MP's flat in Pimlico, near the Commons. It is believed she was a parliamentary worker, but not in Bridgen's office.
Scotland Yard confirmed: "A 46-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at an address in SW1 in the early hours of Thursday, June 9. The man has been bailed to return on a date in mid-July."
The arrest was another dent to the carefully burnished rebranding that Cameron has undertaken on the Conservative Party, who have a long history of sex scandals.

If Ed Balls really loves Labour, he should resign

Labour supporters must wish they could go back under the duvet this morning: it is one thing to suspect that Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander and – to a lesser extent –Ed Miliband were Gordon Brown’s boys, ready to promote their man at any cost; it is another to read that these men at the top of today’s Labour were plotting to oust Tony Blair from No 10. To do so they were prepared to lean on party members and drip poison in their ears. Brown before the party, was their motto – and Brown before Britain, for this was when the nation faced its worst terrorist attacks.
The worst of it, for Labour, is that these men form Her Majesty’s Opposition. They have retained their bullying tactics, frenzied factionalism, and – judging by the leaked letters –  bitter enmities. This in-fighting is key to understanding Labour since 1997. Forget Tory splits between Eurosceptics and Europhiles: that’s kids’ stuff. When you want to see deep dark hatred in action:  misinformation campaigns, threats and counter-threats, and language (”brutal cleansing”) that echoes Stalin’s. The party, Brown’s cabal decreed, must be purged of unreliable (ie Blairite) elements. It was precisely this kind of tribalism that Blair’s revolution was supposed to eradicate: he knew, instinctively, that Labour could not succeed until it got over its obsession with score-settling. Unfortunately, for the anti-Blair camp this was no pastime but a raison d’etre.
One question is: whom does this row serve? I have a hunch, given its timing, that one former Prime Minister (no, not Gordon) stands to benefit a great deal. Only yesterday Blair came out with an extraordinary request, that there should be a President of the European Union. It would make sense for him to give David Cameron a big gift, in the shape of an explosive anti-Labour revelation, in order to secure the Coalition’s support for his plans. But I should add that this is just guesswork.
Whatever the truth, Labour can survive only by flushing out the thugs. Voters will never believe in a hierarchy riddled with yesterday’s plotters. Ed Balls has claimed time and again that he loves his party. If this is so, the Shadow Chancellor must now resign.

 

Fresh evidence has emerged of how Gordon Brown and his supporters tried to oust Tony Blair as prime minister.

Their efforts are shown in papers belonging to the current shadow chancellor Ed Balls, which have been obtained by the Daily Telegraph.

The memos show they tried to get Mr Blair to stand down after Labour won a third general election in 2005.

Their plan was codenamed Project Volvo, the car Mr Brown's supporters believed voters most associated with him.

Mr Brown's supporters met on 21 July 2005, when Mr Blair was dealing with attempted terror attacks on London.

BBC deputy political editor James Landale says that - after gossip and memoirs dealing with the same topic - these memos document the extraordinary attempts to oust Mr Blair.

"Much of the detail may be for historians but the question is whether any of the revelations damage some of those on Labour's frontbench today who were close to Mr Brown, including the current leader Ed Miliband," our correspondent said.

A Labour source has said that this is all ancient history and that Labour is a party looking to the future, he adds.

'Muddled'
The Daily Telegraph has obtained more than 30 memos belonging to Mr Balls, one of Mr Brown's closest advisers.

The paper names current Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander as co-conspirators.

The documents disclose details of secret meetings, opinion polls on Mr Blair's policies and attempts to rebrand Mr Brown's image.

They also include letters exchanged between Mr Blair and Mr Brown, which provide greater insight into the rivalry at the top of the Labour party.

The files show them haggling over the terms for a handover of No 10.

In February 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Mr Brown: "You (understandably) want me to go now.

"You need to be the candidate of continuity and change. The second will be relatively easy to do. A different person is, by its nature, change."

But, said Mr Blair, to be the candidate of continuity would require a "clear demonstration" to the public that Mr Blair, as the embodiment of New Labour, was "working hand in hand with the successor".

Suggesting a deal under which he would leave in summer 2007, Mr Blair said that in return he would need "full help and co-operation" on key reforms to the NHS, schools, welfare and energy.

And he warned: "Whilst I remain PM, the final decision has to be mine; and that cannot provoke a breakdown. I will try, at all costs, to avoid disagreement, but there can't be stalemate if it happens."

On a copy of the letter he passed to Mr Balls, Mr Brown scribbled the words "shallow", "inconsistent" and "muddled".

Claims by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the coalition government is pushing through radical change which no one has voted for were rejected by Prime Minister David Cameron

Claims by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the coalition government is pushing through radical change which no one has voted for were rejected by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday.

In an outspoken attack, Rowan Williams warned that the government’s policies in areas such as health and education were sparking “bafflement and indignation” among voters who had not seen them exposed to public debate in last year’s election.

There was “anger and anxiety” at efforts to push through far-reaching reforms for which they had no democratic mandate, said the head of the Church of England.

The prime minister said Mr Williams was free to express his views, but he “profoundly disagreed” with the remarks.

Lord Prescott and others want to know more about the Met's investigation

Four men who believe the News of the World hacked their phones have won their latest bid to mount legal action over police handling of the case.

They are former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott, Labour MP Chris Bryant, ex-Scotland Yard boss Brian Paddick and journalist Brendan Montague.

The men, who believe their human rights were breached, have been seeking a judicial review at the High Court.

Judge Mr Justice Foskett ruled their cases could now go to a full hearing.

He said Lord Prescott, Mr Bryant and Scotland Yard's former deputy assistant commissioner Mr Paddick each had "an arguable case for seeking the relief claimed by way of judicial review".

He added that he was not "truly persuaded" Mr Montague had such an arguable claim but he would allow it to proceed with the others.

Reacting to developments, Mr Bryant told the BBC people would be asking why police limited their investigation in 2006 "to just a very few cases".

It could be that individual officers were too close to senior people at the newspapers”

Brian Paddick
He said the public would also want to know why officers "point blank refused" to inform all potential victims and pursue every piece of evidence.

"Imagine that this was about elderly people living in their homes who were subject to fraudsters in their community who decided to listen to their mobile phone messages to find out when they were going to be at home or not," he said.

"If the police had found criminality in relation to three or four houses, you would think that they would want to notify all the other potential victims so that they could protect themselves.

"And that's exactly what we believe should have happened in 2006, and in addition if they'd investigated all the paperwork that they had, including the material in relation to me and many, many others, then they would probably have found far more criminal activity than thus far has ever got to court."

Mr Paddick said the reason police did not follow up all their leads could have been down to a lack of resources or a desire to safeguard their reputation and keep positive stories in the media.

But he added: "It could be that individual officers were too close to senior people at the newspapers."

At proceedings earlier this month, Hugh Tomlinson QC, who represents the four men, said their application concerned the "lawfulness" of the way the Metropolitan Police dealt with the case in 2006 "when police officers became aware of what was going on".

He said they were seeking declarations in relation to claims that the police "failed to inform them they were victims".

He also claimed police failed to respond adequately to their requests for information and failed to carry out an effective investigation at the time.

The Met Police are re-examining the entire case dating back to 2006, when the News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into the mobile phone voicemails of royal aides.

Since then, a series of inquiries and legal cases have been exploring just how widespread the practice was.

More and more celebrities and public figures have alleged their phones have been hacked and some have launched legal actions against the paper or the police for allegedly failing to investigate.

News International has offered to co-operate fully with a Metropolitan Police inquiry.

Chris Huhne’s ministerial career looks more precarious than ever after the Cabinet appeared to distance itself from the Energy Secretary

Essex Police are already investigating allegations that Mr Huhne asked his estranged wife Vicky Pryce to take speeding points on his behalf.
Miss Pryce piled further pressure on Mr Huhne when she released a copy of her driving licence to a Sunday newspaper showing that she had received three points on March 12 2003 – the date she alleges Mr Huhne was caught speeding.
And as the fall out from Miss Pryce’s allegations continued it was suggested that one of Mr Huhne’s own children could volunteer to give evidence against him.
Mr Huhne, 56, is continuing to deny the allegations that he asked others to take speeding points for him.
But, following reports that Miss Pryce is not the only person to have taken points on Mr Huhne’s behalf, William Hague refused to back his Cabinet colleague, saying it was a matter for Mr Huhne to deal with himself.

 

Brown had his faults but he helped steer IMF policy, pushed aid on to the global agenda and took the lead when banking was near collapse.

Imagine that in the aftermath of Tony Blair's landslide victory in the 1997 general election John Major had pitched for the job as managing director of the International Monetary Fund only to be told that the new Labour government was backing a French candidate instead.

Blair would have been accused of being vindictive towards an old adversary, even though he had been prime minister on the day the Bank of England took on George Soros and lost. It would have been seen as not just small-minded but unpatriotic to plump for someone from across the Channel.

David Cameron and George Osborne are unlikely to face similar censure for their blackballing of Gordon Brown's bid to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the head of the IMF, but their treatment of the former prime minister is shabby nonetheless.

Let's be clear: Brown made plenty of blunders during his 13 years first as chancellor and then prime minister. He did not abolish boom and bust; he failed to tame the growing power of the City; he left the economy far too dependent on two or three sources of growth.

But he was also the longest serving chancellor since Gladstone; he presided over the IMF's key policy committee expertly for almost a decade; he drove forward an international agenda on development and he took the initiative when the global banking industry was about to implode in the autumn of 2008. In any other country for that matter, that would make him a serious contender for the job. Not in Britain.

In part, this is due to personal factors. Both Cameron and Osborne feel that Brown treated them w ith contempt and hostility when he was in office, and so feel under no obligation to a political opponent. The reason for the snub goes deeper than that, though.

Since Labour's defeat at the general election a year ago, the coalition has been keen to portray Brown as the prime minister who left the country in a state of near-bankruptcy, thus making the current painful austerity measures inevitable. Plenty of voters share this view and they might find it strange for the government to be trashing Brown's record on the one hand and bigging him up for the IMF job on the other.

It is also a sense of their insecurity perhaps that neither Cameron nor Osborne fancies having Brown taking pot shots at them from the fund's HQ in Washington. Under Strauss-Kahn, the IMF has been kindly disposed towards the gamble the government has been taking with fiscal policy; ministers think they will get an easier ride with Christine Lagarde in charge, and they are almost certainly right about that.

If all this seems a bit domestically focused, that's because the government doesn't really have an agenda for the international institutions. Cameron and Osborne dutifully turn up for meetings of the G8, the G20 and the IMF, but are happy to take a back-seat role. To take just one example, the G8 will be meeting in Deauville this week at a time when the three leading European countries – Germany, France and Italy – have broken the solemn aid promises they made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005. Under Blair or Brown, the UK would have made one hell of a fuss about that. There has not been a peep out of Cameron or Osborne, for whom aid spending appears to be merely about the detoxification of the Tory brand.

Similarly, the government's support for Lagarde appears to be based on the fact that she is not Brown rather than on what the French finance minister plans to do with the IMF. Again, this is depressingly parochial.

The IMF exists to ensure the smooth running of the global economy, to provide early warnings of problems ahead and to act as a firefighter when problems arise, as they inevitably will. It was found sadly lacking before and during the financial crisis of 2007-08 – not just failing to identify trouble ahead but actively promoting the financial free-for-all that caused the speculative frenzy. When the bubble burst, the fund lacked the resources to fulfil its role as a lender of last resort.

There is a big agenda for the new managing director, because most of the problems that caused the biggest downturn since the 1930s have not gone away. They have simply been brushed under the carpet by policymakers eager to return to business as usual.

As it has been since it was established at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, the fund is badly placed to rectify imbalances in the global economy. After the second world war, the overwhelming power of the United States meant Washington was able to insist that the burden of adjustment always fell squarely on the weak, with no reciprocal obligations on the strong. It was up to a country running a balance of payments deficit to reduce its import bill through deflationary policies; the country running a balance of payments surplus was required to do nothing.

Almost seven decades later, Washington perhaps now regrets this asymmetrical approach, since the US runs the world's biggest current account surplus and the big creditor nations – China, Japan and Germany – are under no obligation to boost US exports by expanding their domestic demand.

The next MD should, therefore, be pushing for a pact for growth and employment. Under Strauss-Kahn, the fund began work with the International Labour Organisation to promote policies that would ensure growth is employment-rich, and to explore policies that would create a social protection floor. This work needs to be accelerated.

In addition, the IMF needs to recognise that there is often a tension between the pursuit of full employment and financial liberalisation, particularly when the free movement of capital leads to speculative bubbles. Reform of international finance, with a less dogmatic approach towards capital controls, is needed.

The fund also has to ensure that it can both spot trouble brewing and, crucially, have mechanisms in place to ensure that its warnings are heeded. There has been much talk in recent years of multilateral surveillance, in which the key players in the global economy would agree to implement mutually supportive policies, but little evidence that the warm words have been turned into meaningful action.

Nor is there likely to be while large chunks of the emerging world remain deeply suspicious of the IMF, led as it is by the US and Europe. China and other Asian countries have built up huge reserves since the Asian crisis of the late 1990s, with destabilising consequences for the global economy, to ensure that they are not forced to go cap in hand to the fund. Further reforms to governance – to ensure that developing countries have more say in the running of the IMF – would help generate a more collaborative atmosphere.

Finally, there is the broader agenda of multilateralism, which includes climate change and trade. These are not strictly within the fund's remit but it has a role in promoting policies designed to make growth less environmentally damaging and trade flows more balanced.

So that's the agenda, and a full one it is to be sure. In an open and fair process, potential candidates would be measured against this sort of template. Will this happen or will the IMF job be subject to the usual mix of carve up, power politics and backstairs intrigue? Silly question, to which we already have the answer.

 

THE daughter-in-law of former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd has plunged 40ft to her death from the roof of her New York home.

Mum-of-five Catherine Hurd was found in the early hours of Saturday morning near her home close to the UN headquarters, where her husband worked.

The couple were due to return to the UK in a week’s time when his posting came to an end.

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Mrs Hurd, 46, was taken by paramedics to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police believe it was suicide but did not find a note.

A New York Police spokesman said: “Police responded to a call and found a 46-year-old woman outside 445 East 84th Street ­unresponsive and with severe trauma. There is no suspicion of criminality at this time.”

Her husband Thomas, 45, is the Conservative veteran’s son and a contemporary of Prime Minister David Cameron at Eton.

The Middle East expert is part of the UK arm of the United Nations Security Council.

The Foreign Office has refused to comment on Mrs Hurd’s death.

Bank watchdogs to probe Sir Fred Goodwin over alleged secret affair

THE British banking regulator will investigate whether Sir Fred Goodwin's sex life contributed to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The Financial Services Authority are to liaise with RBS to find out if Sir Fred's alleged secret affair with a senior colleague had anything to do with the bank's failure.
Taxpayers had to pour £50billion into RBS after the banking giant were brought to their knees under Sir Fred's leadership.
The bank were part-nationalised with the loss of 20,000 jobs and the Government were left with a huge financial deficit.
Last night it emerged Fred the Shred may have breached his contract by hiding his affair from the board.
But RBS bosses snubbed millions of taxpayers by refusing to confirm or deny whether they knew about his secret and kept it hidden from financial regulators.
Sir Fred's affair was only revealed on Thursday when Lib Dem peer Lord Stoneham used parliamentary privilege to flout a super-injunction covering any details of the issue being reported.
The High Court then lifted a gagging order, allowing the media to reveal that married dad-of-two Sir Fred, 52, tried to hide a "sexual relationship" - but not to name his mistress or details of the relationship.
Campaigners urgently want to know whether his affair affected or hastened the bank's dramatic downfall.
Lord Oakeshott said: "I'm very concerned the whole story should be out there, should be properly investigated and we should all learn the lessons of the collapse. This was the biggest corporate crash in British history."
Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: "We have a right to know the full story.
"Depending on when it happened, there are lots of ways an affair could have created the management distraction that led to RBS needing the massive bailout. " Sir Fred, who married wife Joyce in 1990, was chief executive of RBS from 2000 to 2008.
He was widely blamed for the bank's demise and became the face of the banking crisis that led to the recession.
He was nicknamed Fred the Shred because of brutal staff cuts during his time at RBS.
After it all went wrong, Sir Fred waltzed off with a £2.7million lump sum and a £700,000-a-year pension.
Grim-faced Lady Goodwin, 51, was yesterday spotted leaving the couple's £3.5million mansion in Colinton, Edinburgh, on the school run with the couple's children.

ENERGY Secretary Chris Huhne may be quizzed by cops over claims he tried to dodge a drive ban by talking someone into accepting speeding points on his behalf.

ENERGY Secretary Chris Huhne may be quizzed by cops over claims he tried to dodge a drive ban by talking someone into accepting speeding points on his behalf.
Lib Dem Mr Huhne, who denies the allegations, is facing calls to step down if an official investigation is launched.

Yesterday a tape of a phone call emerged in which he urges an unnamed witness not to talk to the media.

Mr Huhne says: "If I were you... do not talk. I would have thought you would not want to talk."

In the tape, obtained legally by The Sunday Times, he adds: "There is no way that there is any evidence for this story, unless you decide to give some legs to it by saying something. OK?"

Mr Huhne's estranged wife Vicky Pryce, 57, claimed last week he had "pressurised people" to take penalty points. She added: "He does drive a bit like a maniac." Last night it was claimed Mrs Pryce was the driver who took the blame for the speeding offence.

She has supposedly told pals she is prepared to co-operate with cops.

Essex Police acted after a formal complaint from Labour MP Simon Danczuk about the alleged incident in the county in 2003. A spokesman added: "The information will be passed to officers who will decide if an investigation will be launched."


Mr Danczuk called on Mr Huhne to step down if there is an inquiry. He said: "These are very serious allegations. We're talking about perverting the course of justice."

A spokesman for Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: "Nick and Chris spoke last week. Chris denied the allegations and nothing has changed since then."

The Scottish National Party will form Scotland's first ever majority government after a stunning election victory.

The party has reached 65 seats in the 129-seat parliament, with some counts still to declare, taking key seats in Labour heartlands.

The Liberal Democrat vote also collapsed, with the party returning four MSPs so far.

The SNP now has enough Holyrood votes to hold an independence referendum.

Labour leader Iain Gray announced he would stand down from the job in the autumn.

SNP leader Alex Salmond, whose party formed a minority government after the 2007 elections, described the unfolding Holyrood election results as "historic".

Prime Minister David Cameron also offered his congratulations to the SNP leader for an "emphatic win".

The reasons? A concatenation of circumstances which, combined, have given the SNP the most convincing and stunning victory in their history.

Among its successes, the SNP won all 10 first-past-the-post seats in the north east and still managed to pick up an additional regional list seat after amassing more than 140,000 votes.

Labour big hitters, including finance spokesman Andy Kerr and former minister Tom McCabe, lost to the SNP in the party's West of Scotland heartland, while, in Glasgow, the SNP won the Anniesland seat with a majority of just seven votes.

Mr Gray said he had spoken to Mr Salmond early on Friday to congratulate him on his victory.

He continued: "Labour has lost many talented representatives, and it seems very likely that Labour's new and returning MSPs will play their part in the democratic process in the Scottish Parliament from opposition, but will do so with gusto.

"Labour's MSPs will work constructively with the new Scottish government to create jobs and tackle unemployment wherever we can."

Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University indicated that Labour appeared to have had its poorest performance in Scotland for at least 80 years.

He added it was fairly clear that the party's campaign had "badly misfired" and "badly missed its target".

Mr Gray was only narrowly re-elected as MSP for East Lothian with a majority of 151 votes, while his Lib Dem counterpart, Tavish Scott, also held on to his seat, despite losing 20% of his constituency vote in Shetland.

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie returned to Holyrood on the west of Scotland list.

The Liberal Democrats no longer have a single seat in Hertsmere for the first time in the council's history.

The party suffered a crushing blow in the local elections, losing its only two seats on Hertsmere Borough Council.

Group leader Roger Kutchinsky, chose to stand in Bushey Heath, rather than his previous ward Bushey North, but lost by a staggering majority to Conservative Councillor Paul Morris who retained his position.

The vacant seat in Bushey North was taken by Conservative candidate Leslie Winters, while fellow Conservative representative Carey Keates won in Bushey St James, where Liberal Democrat Anita Gamble stood down.

The results mean the Liberal Democrats have lost all of their seats in the borough, but Councillor Kutchinsky said it was not the end for the party locally.

He said: "The people have spoken and I am not sure all of our supporters have sympathy with the move into a coalition. There has been a national trend against the Liberal Democrats and that has taken its toll locally.

"I don't see this as the end of the party in Hertsmere but we will have to rebuild from a much lower base. We will still be active in the area, campaigning on pressing matters for the residents of Bushey."

Leader of the council, Councillor Morris Bright, said he was delighted at his party gaining one seat in the borough, but said he was not concerned that there is no-longer cross party representation in the council chamber.

He said: "I would be more disappointed for the Liberal Democrats if they had fielded candidates in every ward, but in Borehamwood they were absent.

"I am very disappointed that people like Roger Kutchinsky have gone, but the reality is that this is democracy and people have made their choice."

TORIES erupted in anger yesterday at the news that Gordon Brown is eyeing up one of the world’s most important financial roles.

TORIES erupted in anger yesterday at the news that Gordon Brown is eyeing up one of the world’s most important financial roles.

Ex-PM Gordon Brown wants the top job at the International Monetary Fund, which plays a crucial role in governing global markets.

Tory MP Matthew Hancock said: “Gordon Brown left a terrible economic record. He would be totally inappropriate to run the IMF

Nick Clegg is 'locked in the boot' of David Cameron's car, blasts Ed Miliband

ED Miliband yesterday accused Nick Clegg of being “locked in the boot” of a car being driven in the wrong direction by David Cameron.

The Labour leader stepped up his attack on the Coalition as he hit the ­campaign trail ahead of the local elections.

In Newcastle he tried to woo Lib Dems by saying Mr Clegg no longer represented them.

He said: “The Lib Dems are not front-seat ­passengers or back-seat passengers in this Conservative-led government. They are locked in the boot of a vehicle travelling rapidly in the wrong direction.

“We may have heard ­shouting coming from that boot. But it isn’t changing the way the Government is ­headed.”

Vince Cable risks new storm by sharing platform with Labour leader to push for move to AV

Vince Cable will share a platform with Labour leader Ed Miliband tomorrow - setting up another clash with Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister is joining forces with Mr Miliband in a bid to win the May 5 referendum on changing Britain’s voting system.

They will line up together at a Press conference in London, where they will issue a joint plea to scrap the first-past-the-post voting system to ‘make politics fairer’.

The double act comes days after Business Secretary Mr Cable accused Mr Cameron of ‘inflammatory’ remarks over immigration, prompting calls for disciplinary action by some Tory MPs.

And it is bound to lead to further claims that Mr Cable, who once worked for former Labour leader John Smith, has more in common with Labour than his Conservative colleagues in the Coalition.

The joint-appearance emerged as Mr Cameron insisted the referendum would not end the coalition.

He said the losing side would just have to pick themselves up and 'get on with the things that really matter'.

The Prime Minister called for a 'reasonable argument on both sides' and expressed hope it would help 'fire up' the public.

He said: 'Whatever the result on May 5, this is a five-year Government, Nick and I are absolutely committed to taking the Government and its programme forward.

'Whoever is on the losing side as it were will just have to pick themselves up and say: well, it was a fair argument, a fair fight, a fair referendum, the country has decided and now we have got to get on with all the things that really matter so much.'

Mr Cable and Mr Miliband will appear with Labour-supporting comedian Eddie Izzard, a cheerleader for the campaign to switch to an Alternative Vote (AV) system for elections.

The joint appearance at Broadway House in Westminster is all the more embarrassing as Mr Miliband has refused to share a platform with Mr Cable’s party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, on the grounds that he is so unpopular he will turn people away from the ‘Yes to AV’ campaign.

By contrast, genial Mr Cable, who has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, has enjoyed better ratings.

Labour MPs hope the event will add to the growing tensions between the Coalition’s Tory and Lib Dem allies. Mr Miliband and Mr Cable will denounce the Tories for trying to keep the first-past-the-post system.

Mr Cameron, who is backing the ‘No’ campaign, will hit back by launching a new attack on the Lib Dems over the referendum, claiming a Yes to AV vote will undermine democracy.

 

Detectives said on Thursday they had arrested another reporter over allegations of phone hacking by journalists at the News of the World.

The arrest is the third in just over a week in a scandal that has already forced an admission of liability from owner News International and led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman.

Detectives are investigating claims that journalists on the weekly tabloid were hacking into the voicemails of members of the royal family, politicians, celebrities and sports stars.

Police said a 55-year-old man had been held on suspicion of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications and unlawful interception of mobile phones.

A source close to News International confirmed the man was one of the paper's senior reporters, James Weatherup.

Last week, detectives arrested Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's chief reporter, and Ian Edmondson, a former senior editor who was sacked after an internal inquiry.

There was no immediate comment from News International about the latest arrest.

Until last week, News International had always blamed rogue reporters for any hacking, first uncovered in 2005/6 when its royal reporter and a private detective were jailed for snooping on voicemail messages of royal aides.

But on Friday it admitted liability and said it would pay compensation in eight cases.

It has also written to nine others who claim their phones were hacked and who have started legal action against the group, asking them to provide more evidence.

Lawyers say the company could face a flood of claims which could cost 40 million pounds.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that the agent who represents England footballer Wayne Rooney was also planning to sue the newspaper over claims his phone was hacked.

The scandal has embroiled the prime minister whose judgement has been called into question over his decision to appoint Andy Coulson as his media chief.

Coulson, who was the paper's editor when the hacking scandal broke, later resigned his Downing Street post although he always denied any knowledge of the practice.

The Guardian said on its website that Weatherup had been news editor at the paper under Coulson and was one of his inner circle of executives.

LIB Dems have ditched Nick Clegg from campaign literature as his broken vows have made him so “toxic” with voters.

Even party activists in the Deputy PM’s home city of Sheffield are handing out election leaflets that do not feature a picture of him.

And it emerged last night that the Lib Dem leader in Liverpool, Warren Bradley, has called for Mr Clegg to pull out of the Coalition before the party “disappears into the annals of history”.

In a confidential email to Mr Clegg, Mr Bradley blamed the pact with the Tories for the Lib Dems’ looming disaster in next month’s elections.Mr Bradley, who led the city council for five years, said: “The boil is about to come to a head and burst (probably on election night).”

In the email marked private, he added: “Many other long serving councillors could be defeated not because of their record but because of your record and the perception of what we as Lib Dems now are.”

Before the contents of the email came to light, he distanced himself from Mr Clegg by saying: “We couldn’t possibly use him as part of our campaign. I think it would be a really bad move to do so.

“I think Nick Clegg would probably say ‘for God’s sake, keep me away from your campaign’.”

In Scotland, Lib Dem candidates have also axed Mr Clegg from their material.

Scotland’s Lib Dem leader, Tavish Scott, admitted that Mr Clegg makes him “grimace” and said the pact with the Tories at Westminster had made his campaign “difficult”. Clive Betts, Labour’s MP for Sheffield South East, said: “As the man who embodies their broken promises, Nick Clegg is becoming more and more toxic to his own party.”