Hint of early poll with Labour’s new recruit

Gordon Brown fuelled speculation that he will call an early general election as Labour announced the appointment of a senior party official to prepare for the campaign (Greg Hurst writes).

Jon Mendelsohn, who starts next month as director of general election resources, will work on the party’s finances and internal machinery as its steps up its campaign planning.

Mr Mendelsohn, joint founder of a successful lobbying firm with close links to new Labour, has close links with some of the party’s wealthy supporters.

The party said he would not be paid and would have “no commercial relationships with any previous clients”.

The Times revealed last week the party has been put on alert for a poll as early as October.

Schools plan queried

MPs are questioning whether Gordon Brown should commit £45 billion to rebuilding every secondary school in England over 15 years. The Commons Education Select Committee is asking whether the money would not be better spent on training and making schools more environmentally friendly.

MPs protected

The row over the exemption of Parliament from freedom of information laws was brought to an end yesterday as the Information Commissioner said politicians’ correspondence was already protected. Public bodies were told to presume that requests for MPs’ letters and e-mails should be refused.

Eye drug cost rethink

The Government’s drug watchdog is reconsidering its draft guidance rejecting funding for drugs to treat the wet form of macular degeneration, the commonest cause of loss of sight in the elderly. Nice, the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence, is to look at the economics behind its decision.

Big Ben to fall silent

Big Ben, the bell inside Parliament’s clock tower, is to fall silent for up to six weeks while maintenance work is carried out. The famous “bongs” will last be heard at 8am on Saturday. The four clock faces will be cleaned and repaired on Saturday by a specialist team of abseiling technicians.

Water supplies vanish

Severn Trent Water has said that 357 bowsers sent to provide emergency drinking water to more than 350,000 people in Gloucestershire are missing, feared stolen. The bowsers were placed on street corners and at other strategic sites because a water-treatment works at Mythe near Tewkesbury was flooded.

Fuel protest leader quits BNP after brawl

The activist who led the national fuel-tax protest in 2000 and recently secured the BNP’s best by-election result has left the party after a punch-up with a senior official.

Andrew Spence, a farmer from Co Durham, polled almost 2,500 votes in Tony Blair’s former Sedgefield consitutency last month. He admits that he threw punches at John Walker, the BNP treasurer, after “a major disagreement” last weekend. “The BNP is not the party I thought it was,” he said.

A BNP spokesman said: “This issue is an internal, family matter within the party and of no interest to anyone outside.”

Napoli recycling plan

The bow section of the container ship MSC Napoli, which is grounded off the East Devon coast, is to be towed to Belfast for recycling in an operation starting early today. The bow will be towed by tug to the Harland and Wolff shipyard. The Napoli, which was deliberately grounded after its hull broke up in rough seas in January, was split in two by explosives last month to assist its disposal.

Car ‘bomb’ penalty

A disabled pensioner whose car was blown up in Central London by police has been told that he must pay for it to be scrapped. The controlled explosion was carried out in Park Lane on July 22 because carrier bags on the back seat were thought to be a bomb. Geoff Bone, 63, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, must now pay £50 for the car to be disposed of or £12 a day in storage charges.

Intruder’s 40ft fall

A 56-year-old man has been arrested and questioned by police after a suspected burglar fell out of a fourth-floor window. The intruder, aged 43, was in a serious condition in hospital after he fell about 12 metres (40ft) when he was disturbed at a flat in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Officers arrested the occupant of the flat on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm to the intruder.

Farm worker killed

Edward Pybus, 21, a farm worker, was electrocuted when the combine harvester he was driving came into contact with overhead power cables in Upper Chute, Wiltshire. Colleagues tried to revive Mr Pybus, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, before he was airlifted to hospital in Swindon, where he was pronounced dead soon after his arrival. An inquest was due to open yesterday.

Hobsons choice

A mild ale with an alcohol content of only 3.2 per cent has been judged the best beer in Britain. Hobsons Mild, brewed in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, was chosen as the overall winner from more than 50 finalists at the Campaign for Real Ale Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court, West London. It is described in the Camra Good Beer Guide for 2007 as having “complex layers of taste”.

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