Free Republic

Five of the nine Britons held by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are to be returned to the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced. The breakthrough follows months of wrangling between London and Washington over how to deal with the detainees who were held over suspected terrorist links in the wake of the invasion of Afghanistan. In a statement to reporters at the Foreign Office, Mr Straw said in discussions with the Americans the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, had rejected US proposals to try them by US military tribunals. And he said the Government was still pressing...

LONDON: The wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair is the person Britons most want kicked out of the country after her links to a convicted conman were exposed in the recent Cheriegate affair, according to a poll on Wednesday. In a tongue-in-cheek BBC survey drawing 15,000 votes, Cherie Blair topped the hall of shame with 31 per cent after damaging revelations last month about her property dealings with a convicted fraudster dominated headlines and embarrassed the government. Cherie Blair, a high profile barrister, saw her public support tumble in December as the media focused relentlessly on details of how Peter...