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Ed Miliband is the new Labour leader, it has been announced at a special conference in Manchester. He beat brother David by the wafer thin margin of 50.65% to 49.35% after second, third and fourth preference votes came into play. Ed Balls was third, Andy Burnham fourth and Diane Abbott last in the ballot of MPs, members and trade unionists. Mr Miliband, 40, replaces acting leader Harriet Harman in the contest triggered by the resignation of Gordon Brown. He paid tribute to each of his fellow candidates in turn and told the conference: "Today we draw a line under this...

A shamed Tory MP has admitted he was too drunk to vote in the debate on the Budget after a night of debauched behaviour on the Commons terrace. Former banker Mark Reckless was so inebriated that he fell to the floor of a Commons bar before the crucial vote in the early hours of the morning, before being bundled into a taxi home by fellow MPs. Conservative chiefs also apologised after another MP, Sheryll Murray, was allegedly rude to a parliamentary official after she, too, had been drinking on the terrace overlooking the Thames. The extraordinary scenes came during a...

Is Gordon Brown still fit for office? A blog posted today by the journalist John Ward on his website notbornyesterday.org suggests that the PM may be in worse health than the public realise. He claims there are signs the PM is taking powerful drugs to control both depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Ward bases his hypothesis on a tip-off from a senior civil servant that Brown has recently been given a "long list of forbidden foods". The civil servant, who works regularly with the PM, told Ward that Brown had been banned from eating and drinking several specific things...

A major terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight has been disrupted by police, Scotland Yard says. It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled on board aircraft in hand luggage. During the night, police arrested a number of people in London after a counter-terrorist operation they said had lasted several months. Police believe the attacks would have been particularly targeted at flights from the UK to the US. The Department for Transport said security at all UK airports has been increased. Passengers on all flights will not be allowed to take any hand luggage on...

Tony Blair is to announce his resignation by Christmas, members of his inner circle believe. The Prime Minister's closest aides feel that, following a series of damaging rows over education and "sleaze", he will quit within nine months. The disclosure comes as John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, agreed to try to broker an agreement between Mr Blair and back-bench MPs over the succession after being warned that uncertainty about the leadership is having a disastrous effect on Labour morale. Joan Ruddock, a former minister, raised the issue of the succession, including the timing of Mr Blair's departure, with Mr...

MPs are planning to impeach Tony Blair for "high crimes and misdemeanours" in taking Britain to war against Iraq, reviving an ancient practice last used against Lord Palmerston more than 150 years ago. Eleven MPs led by Adam Price, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, are to table a motion when parliament returns that will force the prime minister to appear before the Commons to defend his record in the run-up to the war. Nine of the MPs are Welsh and Scottish Nationalists, including the party leaders, Elfyn Llwyd, and Alex Salmond, and two are Conservative frontbenchers, Boris...