The two-party system in Britain was threatened in the early ’80s. It’s time someone set out to challenge the establishment again, writes Bill Emmott.

THE decision by British Prime Minister Theresa May, reached during a walking holiday in Wales, to set aside assurances that she would not call an early election, has turned out to be one of the most disastrous in modern European politics.

Whatever the outcome of today’s counting of votes, there’s no prospect of a well-run government emerging, writes Clive Crook.

Fine Gael engaged in the most negative campaigning online during the election campaign, analysts have revealed.

Fergus Finlay’s loyalty to his former colleagues is admirable . . . to a point! (Irish Examiner, July 14).

Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government will make a “strong and positive” case for the UK to remain in the EU to prevent Scotland being forced out against its will.

The two men battling to be Britain’s next prime minister traded insults in the last hours of the too-close-to-call campaign by branding each other a conman and a squatter.

British prime minister David Cameron has held out the prospect of free childcare for working families and a “tax- free minimum wage” as he declared the Conservatives were the “real party of working people”.

If Britain opts to leave the EU, the ramifications for Ireland could extend far beyond frayed trade ties, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Your otherwise excellent coverage of the German elections was undermined by the description of Angela Merkel, and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), as “conservatives”.

David Cameron texted Rebekah Brooks telling her to “keep her head up” in the week that she resigned as chief executive of News International, it has been alleged.

British Prime Minister David Cameron today insisted that he had genuinely sought agreement on a new treaty at last week’s European Union summit.

CONSERVATIVE prime minister David Cameron has insisted there was “no bad blood” after 79 of his MPs defied his orders to vote in favour of a referendum on British membership of the European Union.

FORMER tabloid editor Andy Coulson has been dogged by allegations of phone hacking on his watch.

British Prime Minister David Cameron must apologise for his “appalling error of judgment” in hiring ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, Ed Miliband insisted today.

A LABOUR MP has been accused of distributing an advertisement to thousands of homes stating: “Tories bite off babies‘ heads.”

Liberal Democrat leader and “kingmaker” Nick Clegg will become Deputy Prime Minister and join four of his MPs in the UK’s first coalition Cabinet for 65 years.

Formal negotiations between Labour and the Liberal Democrats resumed in the House of Commons today, as the parties struggled to form a viable government five days after the UK general election.

GORDON Brown last night announced he will resign as Labour leader – but offered to stay on as Prime Minister in a potential power-sharing government with the Liberal Democrats until his party has chosen a successor.

DURING our last general election in 2007, my occupation was bookmaking. Our firm pioneered betting markets for every candidate and constituency.

David Cameron will today seek to reassure voters in the North that they would not be “singled out” for spending cuts under a Conservative-led British government.

THERE’S a feisty chick lit author, the Muslim son of a bus driver and a swashbuckling ex-diplomat who braved the Taliban to hike across Afghanistan alone.

WITH two opinion polls last night still pointing to a hung parliament, Labour’s election supremo Peter Mandelson said the Tories had failed to recover the lead they enjoyed at the start of the campaign.

The General Election is now a “two-horse race” between the Liberal Democrats and Tories, Nick Clegg said today.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today accused the Conservatives of planning to cut school funding and scrap NHS waiting list guarantees in order to fund tax breaks for millionaires.

GORDON BROWN today urged voters not to put Britain’s “fragile” economic recovery at risk by entrusting control to his “novice” rivals.

Gordon Brown will seek today to focus on the economy as he tries to claw back the initiative in the British General Election campaign from the resurgent Liberal Democrats.

David Cameron’s electoral project in the North was under renewed pressure tonight after the Conservative Party failed to come good on a pledge to run in every constituency in the region.

The UK general election will be on May 6, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed today.

Gordon Brown will tomorrow call the UK general election for May 6 – and warn voters that a Conservative government would lead the country back into recession.

Gordon Brown was tonight preparing to fire the starting gun for the 2010 British general election.

British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson today accused the Tories of jeopardising the North's peace process for the sake of party political advantage.

IT is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In relation to Dáil elections, that is broadly true. In 1957 and 1961, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael between them secured 81% - 82% of the popular vote. Come 2007, an economic transformation and a 30-odd year terrorist campaign later, that had dipped, but only slightly, to 77.5%.

CONSERVATIVES yesterday announced tax breaks worth £250 million (€272m) to new businesses, as the party’s leadership sought to put a lid on internal discontent over Europe at their annual conference in Manchester.

Tory leader David Cameron was tonight under increasing pressure to declare whether he would press ahead with his promised referendum on the controversial Lisbon Treaty, even if it has been fully accepted by the rest of the European Union.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised today to use tax cuts to inject new vigour into the British economy and reduce the length and depth of the recession.

The Tories’ lead over Labour has been dramatically cut as Gordon Brown continues to win plaudits for his handling of the economic crisis, according to an opinion poll tonight.

Kicking Gordon Brown out of Number 10 would not save the British Government from electoral meltdown – even though his popularity is at an all-time low, according to a poll tonight.

IT is a sign of the times — and a tribute to the political deftness of Ireland’s man in London, David Cooney — that the embassy in Britain will hold its first reception at a Conservative party conference this autumn.

BRITAIN’S Conservative Party yesterday established their strongest opinion-poll lead since the height of Margaret Thatcher’s reign 20 years ago, as embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a police probe into a funding scandal in his Labour Party.

In truth, the former chancellor’s depressed share price before he assumed the keys to No 10 was hugely to his advantage.

Boris Johnson today officially launched his campaign to be the Tories’ candidate for Mayor of London, declaring that the city's residents deserved a “better return on their investment”.

John Profumo has died at the age of 91 after suffering a stroke.

Tony Blair was heading tonight for a historic third term in office – but with a sharply reduced Commons majority of 66, according to a joint BBC-ITV News exit poll.