Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher yesterday returned to No 10 Downing Street for the official unveiling of her new portrait.
The former prime minister is believed to be the first living politician to have her portrait hung in the official residence. Although photos of all modern prime ministers line the main staircase, only two 20th century premiers have paintings on display: David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.
The portrait was painted by Royal artist …

Lord Mandelson took over from Harriet Harman as Gordon Brown’s stand-in today – without bothering to break into his holiday in Corfu, The Times reports.
Lord Mandelson’s week co-ordinating the Government while Brown enjoys a summer break formally begins on Monday but aides admit that he has been “on-call” since the handover on Thursday night.
The peer flew to Corfu around a week ago, insisting that he saw no reason why he should allow the events of …

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has come up with an ingenious little plan to raise taxes again, in order to cover for the totally useless VAT cut he made happen in December. Turns out that Gordon wants to introduce a new 45 percent top rate of income tax from 2011, instead of present 40%.
It’s a terribly nice present for hard working families – punish them for being successful. And the cause is even nicer: to gain …

This is just amazing:
The UK has slid officially into its worst recession for 29 years, as Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, admitted that he had failed to see the economic crisis coming.
The Prime Minister also warned that Britain will not emerge from recession this year unless there is emergency action in the Far East, America and Europe as well.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed Britain had two successive quarters of negative growth. The …

The Conservatives have regained their double-digit lead over Labour after Gordon Brown’s credit crunch driven bounce stalled, according to a new poll.
David Cameron’s party have gained four points putting it on 43 per cent, while Labour dropped two points to 33 per cent.
Daily Mail reports.
David Cameron is definitely heading towards leading this country. I just hope the election comes soon.

I had almost forgot already that couple of weeks ago I saw Sir Richard Branson live at the entrance of Downing Street. He was surrounded by curious crowds taking photos of and with him, and my sister-in-law caught Sir Richard on her camera, too.