Tonight on Newsnight, watch Hazel Blears in her first speaking role in the film A Taste of Honey. The story, I'm told, is that the director Tony Richardson turned up in Pendelton, part of Salford, spotted a group of street urchins, including Hazel Blears and her brother, and wanted to film them. Their parents insisted that they get dressed up in their best clothes, so a five-year-old Blears a...

In this morning's Brian Groom says Labour's departed Scottish leader, Wendy Alexander, was right to call for an early referendum on independence north of the border. Was Wendy Alexander right after all? He adds that Mr Brown should go for it once the Scottish Labour Party has chosen Ms Alexander's successor - but suggests that the beleaguered PM dare not take this particular path.

Just having a wee watch of Newsnight Scotland last night which featured an interview with Margaret Curran and she got herself in a bit of a mess.To be fair to Margaret most of the mess she got in was as a result of Wendy Alexander’s previous ridiculous stance on the independence referendum. Margaret’s inability to answer whether or not she believes the Scottish Labour party should main...

RECENTLY I had the pleasure of debating with Wendy Alexander MSP, former leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, on BBC Newsnight. The subject was government spending. We did

Charles Moore has hit the nail on the head in relation to Hazel Blears. In his Spectator notes he discusses plans by the government to fund a board of Islamic theologians to try to advance more moderate interpretations of Islam, and then defends the diminutive Secretary of State for Communities and Local government: Hazel Blears has her fans "By the way, Hazel Blears, the Cabinet minister in charg...

SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW WITH WENDY ALEXANDER MSP 18 April 2008 1. I am Wendy Alexander, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North and Leader of the Labour Group of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. I am accompanied at interview by Ben Kemp, solicitor with Shepherd and Wedderburn.

SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW WITH WENDY ALEXANDER MSP 18 April 2008 1. I am Wendy Alexander, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North and Leader of the Labour Group of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. I am accompanied at interview by Ben Kemp, solicitor with Shepherd and Wedderburn.

BRING it on, declared Wendy Alexander in 2008, when she unexpectedly backed the idea of holding an immediate independence referendum in Scotland.

Hazel Blears has had her car attacked. She came back from a spot of canvassing and found her Citroen Xsara Picasso was minus a windscreen and had all its tyres slashed. She blames it on bored kids. Many of her constituents think differently. I can just imagine Hazel on the doorstep yesterday. Did it go something like this? [Hazel] Hello, love. I'm Hazel Blears, your hard working, local Labour...

Wendy Alexander's resignation as Scottish Labour leader is of course the last thing Gordon Brown needs. Despite the two clashing over demands for a referendum on independence for Scotland, she has remained a key political ally of the beleaguered PM and he will suffer her loss badly. Sources north of the border suggest an intensive operation - led by Mr Brown personally - was believed yesterday to ...