Furious British Tories have turned their fire on ex-MP Mark Reckless, with David Cameron branding his defection to Ukip "senseless and counter-productive" while party chairman Grant Shapps told activists: "He lied and lied and lied again."

Britain’s economy will suffer hugely if it exits the EU after a referendum scheduled for 2017. Alternatively, it will not suffer at all, in fact, an exit is the necessary precondition for British economic renewal.

Essex police called off a high-profile search for what witnesses had said was a mysterious lion that appeared, apparently out of nowhere, in a field near the seaside resort of Clacton.

Police in England searching for a lion in Essex said today they were taking the hunt seriously.

Firearms officers and police helicopters have joined the hunt for a lion that is thought to be roaming loose in Essex, England.

Detectives have stressed a “live murder inquiry” will continue after a man wanted for murdering a police officer was found dead in a churchyard.

Police in Britain hunting for a man suspected of killing an off-duty officer were searching a village green today amid reports that a body has been found.

Armed police in Britain are hunting for a man suspected of killing an off-duty policeman who was gunned down after intervening in a dispute near his home.

Barclays today said it will axe more than 1,200 jobs in the next two years as part of a shake-up of its high street banking operations in the UK.

Tony Blair today embarked on a last-minute round of telephone diplomacy as hopes for a second resolution on Iraq began to fade and a second Gulf war loomed.

Two people were hurt in the UK today after a train carrying up to 400 people was understood to have hit the buffers at a station.