Senior Brown aide resigns for sending ‘juvenile, inappropriate’ email

September 5th, 2009 LONDON - Following defence aide Eric Joyce quitting over UK's war strategy in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown tried to defend his policy by saying that "we cannot walk away." Despite the growing death toll among British troops, Brown insisted the UK strategy in Afghanistan is the right one. "A safer Britain requires a safer Afghanistan," the Daily Star quoted Brown, as saying.

September 3rd, 2009 UK defense aide resigns over Afghanistan policyLONDON — An aide to Britain's defense minister quit Thursday, criticizing the government's handling of the conflict in Afghanistan and saying Britain should demand more from its U.S. ally. The resignation is particularly embarrassing because Eric Joyce, a former army major, is one of the few top-ranking members of the governing Labour Party with any military experience.

July 17th, 2009 Pa. teen who plotted to bomb family held for trialPITTSBURGH — A 17-year-old boy from suburban Pittsburgh — who police say tried to kill his sleeping family last fall by placing homemade chlorine bombs in their beds — will be tried in juvenile court. The bombs did not go off and no one was hurt.

July 8th, 2009 British Foreign Office minister resignsLONDON — Britain's Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown says he will resign at the end of the month for family and personal reasons. Several ministers resigned from British Prime Minister's cabinet last month in protest over his leadership, but Malloch Brown insists he still greatly admires Gordon Brown.

June 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Sunday stood accused of abusing his office to help a used-car salesman and shielding Treasurer Wayne Swan from parliamentary scrutiny over his dealings with him. Opposition Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull alleges the prime minister urged special treatment for John Grant, Rudd's friend, neighbour and benefactor.

June 7th, 2009 LONDON - Cabinet ministers supposedly loyal to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, reportedly coordinated a plot to force incumbent Premier Gordon Brown to step down. Cabinet Ministers Hazel Blears, James Purnell, John Hutton and Caroline Flint all claimed that they were working alone when they handed in their resignations to Number 10, but The Sunday Telegraph discloses they were part of a group of Blairites that met secretly for months and tried to co-ordinate last week's resignations.

May 5th, 2009 NYC appointee resigns over Mexico 'banditos' essayNEW YORK — A woman appointed to a New York City commission has resigned after coming under withering criticism for saying Mexico should "get a grip on its banditos." Betsy Perry says she would rather leave her post on the New York City Commission on Women's Issues than become a distraction to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Perry wrote an article for the Huffington Post last week that included numerous disparaging remarks about Mexico.

May 2nd, 2009 LONDON - After a joke email about Viagra was circulated with an explicit picture attached to it, it cost taxpayers in a seaside town more than 14,000 pounds. Bournemouth Council is said to have spent 14,100.17 pounds paying 15 employees to stay at home, after the Viagra email, as council chiefs checked some of the staff's email accounts.

April 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Rihanna seems to have forgotten the pain Chris Brown gave her, for she is reportedly keen to reunite with him. According to reports, the 'Umbrella' hitmaker is keen to get back with him and has been sending him photographs of homes on sale.

April 20th, 2009 LONDON - Interest in the art of letter writing has declined since the arrival of email and texting, according to a new research. As the number of people communicating electronically soars, less than half of 50-year-olds now write personal letters by hand, compared to more than seven in ten 70-year-olds, a survey for Saga magazine found.

April 15th, 2009 LONDON - Four former Labour ministers have blamed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for allowing former aide Damian McBride to draw up plans to smear senior Conservatives. According to The Independent, the ministers suggested that McBride was carrying out Brown's wishes rather than acting as a freelance operator.

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - A humiliated British Prime Minister Gordon Brown voiced "great regret" last night over his key aide Damian McBride's sick plot to smear top Tories, but refused to apologise.ith a successful G-20 summit under his belt, Brown was hoping next week's Budget would boost his dismal showing in the polls, but instead, he was engulfed by strategy chief McBride's putrid conspiracy to smear top Tories. Brown was forced to spend yesterday sending "personal" letters to the victims of this appalling plot - David Cameron, George Osborne and MP Nadine Dorries, reports The Sun.he PM also ordered tough new rules for Labour's army of spin doctors.

April 13th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's close aide, Damian McBride, plotted to cripple Tory election hopes with a vile campaign of unfounded and obscene rumours. McBride, Brown's strategy chief, quit after e-mails detailing his sinister smear plan were leaked.

April 12th, 2009 LONDON - A close and senior aide to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has resigned after being found to have sent out emails suggesting a smear campaign targetting front-ranking members of the opposition Conservative Party. Damien McBride, a long-standing adviser to the ruling Labour Party, quit after the emails, sent from the Prime Minister's official 10 Downing Street email address, suggested a campaign against Conservative leader David Cameron, the shadow chancellor (finance minister) George Osborne and three other Tory MPs.

April 11th, 2009 LONDON - A senior aide of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been forced to apologize for sending inappropriate juvenile emails from a Number 10 account. The private missives, written by special adviser Damian McBride, are said to feature ideas for potential smear stories about senior Conservatives.