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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 can disclose that they were part of a group of Blairites that met secretly for months and tried to co-ordinate last week’s resignations. Their intention was to force Mr Brown to stand down in favour of Alan Johnson, the then Health Secretary. Mr Brown faced fresh embarrassment last night after a leaked email showed that Lord Mandelson said the Prime Minister was “self conscious”, “insecure” and “angry”. The Prime Minister faces...

Don't fear the East buying up Britain, says Hutton Last updated at 13:25pm on 18.01.08     Business alliances: Gordon Brown inspects the honour guard during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing on his official visit British people have nothing to fear from seeing their firms gobbled up by the Chinese, Business Secretary John Hutton declared today. In an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard, he hit back at critics of the Government's open-door policy towards China's ambitions to buy up western companies. "If Britain is going to succeed in the new global economy it has to be open to...